State-funded driver’s education could return to Wisconsin

State-funded driver’s education could be coming back to Wisconsin for the first time in 20 years.

The state Assembly has already approved a bipartisan bill that would provide up to $400 in grants for low-income families to pay for drivers’ education. The Senate will hold a public hearing on the proposal Tuesday.

Gov. Tony Evers, who has included state funded driver’s education in previous budget proposals, has signaled he will support for the measure.

State Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Milwaukee, who authored the bill, said up to 15,000 students who qualify for free or reduced lunch could be eligible for the driver’s education grant. It doesn’t matter if the young person goes to a public, private or charter school, as long as they are under 20 years old, Donovan said.

“While this will not completely solve reckless driving, we have removed the financial barrier for those that may have otherwise not participated in driver’s education,” Donovan said. “Our entire state benefits when our young adults are trained in the rules of the road.”

The state has already set aside $6 million to fund the program in the 2023-25 state budget. It would continue to be funded using fees Wisconsin insurance providers collect from users and send back to the state.

The Wisconsin Insurance Alliance supports the idea. Since state-funded driver’s education ended in 2004, many teens forego learning to drive due to the cost, said Andy Franken, president of the Alliance during a September hearing.

Private driver’s education programs cost between $350 to $650.

“Teens ages 15 to 20 without driver education are responsible for 91 percent of teen driver crashes,” Franken said. “When a teen driver has an additional passenger with them, the risk of them getting into a fatal car crash doubles. If two or more passengers are present, the odds are five times as likely.”

The idea to use insurance fees to fund the program came from Common Ground, a southeastern Wisconsin nonpartisan coalition that works on several community-based initiatives. The group says not having a driver’s license goes beyond a lack of proper driving instruction.

Without reliable transportation, teens struggle to find and keep jobs. They don’t have IDs for voting. And not having a state ID increases the chance of a negative encounter with police, Common Ground says.

“We think this is really critical here in Milwaukee, but also critical for kids across the state,” said Jennifer O’Hear, executive director of Common Ground. “We’ve heard from kids who are trying to do all the things they are supposed to do so they can go to college — extracurricular activities, a job — and if you are spending all of your time waiting for someone to pick you up or waiting on a bus, it limits your ability to do all of those things.”

DMV making changes to road test requirements

The road test have been waived for teen drivers since May 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, student drivers who completed their required driver education course, behind the wheel training and 50 hours of supervised driving have been able to apply for a road test waiver.

That will end Dec. 31. The Department of Motor Vehicles is authorized to introduce pilot programs, but legislative action is required for programs, like the Road Test Waiver Pilot, to continue.

Through Aug. 31, 2023, the DMV reported 144,082 parents and/or guardians of 16- and 17-year-old drivers utilized the road test waiver.

Appointments for a road test can be scheduled 11 weeks in advance at wisconsindmv.gov/roadtest.