Kids who want to learn to drive might be able to take driver’s ed at their high schools under a provision in Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget. The idea of improving driver training is something DeWine has been thinking about since a fatal school bus crash in Springfield in 2023.
DeWine talked about driver’s ed in December, referencing the death of an elementary-age student killed on the first day of school in August 2023, when his bus was hit by a driver from Haiti. DeWine created a task force on school bus safety after the crash that killed 11-year-old Aiden Clark, but was also concerned about the driver's history behind the wheel.
"I know from my experience at Haiti, many, many, many times Haitians don't drive at all. They get to the United States. It's the first time they've had the opportunity to drive," DeWine said to reporters in December.
DeWine's connection to Haiti goes back to a school he founded in the name of his daughter Becky, who was killed in a fatal car crash in 1993, when she was 22.
“Our law in Ohio says that when you're 18, you do not have to take driver's training. And I think that's a mistake. I think we should change that in Ohio," DeWine added. "I would like the legislature to require driver's training for everybody, not just those who are under 18."
But there's a cost to that, DeWine noted: “If we're going to do that, we also have to realize that driver's training is expensive. And we have to figure out how to make it more available."
There are ten counties in Ohio where there are no teen driver training courses offered, according to the Department of Public Safety, which maintains a list of licensed providers.
In his budget, DeWine wants to start with $50 million in grants to help schools partner with independent driver's ed programs or to create their own.
The grants would be funded with marijuana tax revenue, which now goes to municipalities and a social equity and jobs fund. DeWine wants to double that tax, an idea Republican lawmakers have suggested they’ll reject.
