07.19.05
budget cuts and driver’s ed
Schools hitting brakes on driver’s education
Cutbacks force parents to teach their children the rules of the road
— reported by the Houston Chronicle
As higher academic standards and budget cuts have pushed driving classes out of many public high schools, parents in Texas have increasingly taken on the task of teaching their teens to drive.
Participation in Texas’ Parent Taught program, launched in 1997 to put parents on equal footing with driving instructors at commercial and public schools, has grown 40 percent in four years, to 111,327 people, according to Texas Department of Public Safety figures.
And parents purchased more than 40 percent of all driver’s education completion certificates in 2003-04, outpacing commercial schools by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio.
