As we noted earlier this week in a WakeEdge alert on budget consequences, WCPSS will suspend driver education at the end of this week.
Offering classes during the months of July and August have cost the district $500,000. Chief Business Officer David Neter noted on Tuesday that there is no more funding available.
Numerous other school districts suspended driver education programs during the summer. With no state budget for schools adopted by the General Assembly, and two different funding approaches proposed by the House and Senate budgets, future funding for driver\’s education is in question.
If no funding for driver education is included in the budget that is passed, WCPSS will not receive any reimbursement of the $500,000 expense already realized. A current student fee of $65 may also be increased to approximately $250 to cover the cost.
School board members noted that North Carolina requires any student wishing to receive a driver license before the age of eighteen have driver education. This increase in cost may result in fewer students completing the course, and thus, fewer students under eighteen with a driver license.
They also mused that some high schools may actually have parking spots available on campus.
They did not discuss an associated reduction in student fees: an annual parking pass for a high school campus in WCPSS costs $170. (A high school campus with 300 parking spaces nets $51,000.) That funding is used by the district to fund security and parking lot maintenance.
No. This does not get any better the further we go.