In May of 1997 the state law in Texas was amended to allow for parent-taught driver’s education programs. This change in state law put parents in the center of the training process. In early January of 1998, the Texas Board of Insurance reviewed this process and recommended its inclusion in the same category of training discounts as traditional methods. An insurance discount on premiums will encourage parents to seek this form of training, while reducing loss on the part of the insurance industry when they insure these more thoroughly trained, safer drivers.

Additionally, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Virginia have passed similar legislation recognizing the ability of parents to provide their students’ driver’s education. The Departments of Motor Vehicles or Departments of Education in several other states have approved various parent taught driver education programs. The following states have specifically approved NDTI’s parent taught driver’s education course: Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia.

Many more states do not require any specific requirements for driver education, leaving parents free to choose between commercial driver education schools, public schools, or parent-taught driver education courses. As of October 2006, these states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Information sources at the end of this article can be checked to find out the laws in your state.

Regarding public school driver education programs, homeschoolers sometimes have difficulty accessing these classes and they do not include much parental involvement. However, driver education classes through the public school or commercial schools could always be supplemented by parent-taught driver education programs to ensure your child becomes the best and safest driver he or she can be. Our children’s lives are precious.

As Senior Counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), I direct our legislative and legal contact work in all 50 states. In addition to defending homeschoolers being investigated by social workers and truant officers and working on home school and parents’ right and religious freedom legislation, we work to help expand parental choice in the area of parent taught driver education.

We urge you to be prepared to help pass parent taught driver education in your state or help preserve it if it has already been enacted. HSLDA believes that there are several reasons why the state legislatures should pass aparent directed driver’s training act:

• It encourages parents to participate with the child in learning and to take more responsibility for the outcome. A parent typically has the greatest interest in the safety and well being of the child.'
• From the research we reviewed, there appears to be no statistical evidence in support of the claim that certified state mandated programs reduce crash rates. Parents with a good curriculum can provide a graduated form of instruction allowing for more time behind the wheel.
• Allowing parents to teach their own children to drive provides them an alternative to public and commercial driving schools. It is cost-effective, convenient, and allows for a more gradual approach to learning new skills.
• If certified instruction has no statistical effect on safety, what compelling interest does the government have in mandating it? Such mandates conflict with the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children.
• The reason for the effectiveness of parent taught driver education is the same as the reason for the effectiveness of home education in general. Both utilize the tutorial method with a low student teacher ratio and individualized instruction aimed at mastery. Furthermore, parents do not want their children to harm themselves or cause accidents. Since parents care the most about their children and have the most to lose in the form of higher insurance rates and repairs to vehicles, parents take the time to teach their children well.

What are you waiting for? Let’s personally help our teenagers learn how to drive and as a result, maybe save their lives.