By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

Due to the potential cost of driver's education to families following budget cuts to the program, Plainville USD 270 has decided not to offer the class this summer.

"We decided that there may be a number of our students who would not be able to afford it," Superintendent Beth Reust said. "We didn't feel justified to offer it to some, but not all."

School officials projected the cost of driver's education in the district to rise from $50 to somewhere near $350. Those estimates did not take into account raises for the instructors.

The increase is a result of the state's budget shortfall. Instead of devoting highway safety funds to the program, the state diverted about $1.7 million of the funds for use in the general fund.

Reust said the state did provide a scaled back amount of funding -- about $38 per student -- this year, but that money only made up for the shortfall the district had from educating last year's students.

Instead of charging 600 percent more than a year ago, the district has left it up to parents like Todd Gilliland and Rod Chard to figure out how their sons will learn to drive.

Safety

Gilliland said he thinks the school district needs to offer the class whether it's going to cost more than $300 or not.

"If they don't even offer it, that just puts everybody in a pickle," Gilliland said.

He said he's not concerned about how much it's going to cost to send his son, Harrison, who will be eligible for the program in the 2010, to the class if it means he'll be a safe driver.

"My first thought was we're going to have a bunch of accidents out here," Gilliland said.

In order to obtain an age-restricted license, the state requires the completion of a driver's education course. Those courses are only provided by school districts, and Gilliland said many 14-year-olds need the license in order to work on the farm.

"To send them a long way away is going to hurt the operation," he said. "They need to be helping on the family farm."

Without driver's education, families also might not be able to capitalize on safe driving discounts with insurance companies.

While parents can teach their children to drive, Gilliland said there's some things that they could overlook.

"There's certain things where you have to come up with the money," Gilliland said. "I sure wouldn't let my kids drive without it."

He said he thought the school district could set up payment plans with parents if they're worried about the cost of the class.

Rite of passage

Chard said he wished the district would have asked the community for input before doing away with the class. Even his son, Bradey, is upset that he won't be able to take driver's education this summer.

"This a very big thing in their life," Rod Chard said. "If anybody can remember how excited they were when they first got to drive, that was a big part of your life. Everybody wants to drive."

He said he understands budget cuts have to be made, but he believes there were other parts that could have been looked at before cutting driver's education.

Price tag

Plainville parents have a decision to make regarding whether or not their children will take driver's education this summer, and much of that decision will rely on the price tag.

While the class might have cost up to $350 in Plainville, Chard said the price tag likely will be similar in other locations.

"We have to drive somewhere else and probably pay the same amount and that's going to cost us driving," Chard said.

He said parents also will have to weigh how much time out of their own work day they will have to take to transport their kids to another town for the class.

"I'm appalled by it because that's going to affect not just my kids, but me and my family," Chard said.

No vacancy

The schools surrounding Plainville will continue to offer driver's education courses this summer, but some might not have many spaces for out-of-district students.

Palco Superintendent Dave Miller said his school board is looking at raising fees, but will continue to educate the 10 to 15 students who usually take the class.

He said with only one instructor, the district doesn't have much room for any students who might be coming from Plainville.

"We're thinking about raising that out-of-district price to thin some of that out," Miller said.

Last year, Palco charged $50 for its students and $100 for out-of-district students.

Stockton also is contemplating a fee increase. Out-of-district students could pay up to $200 to take the class there this summer.

In Natoma, driver's education for in-district students is funded by the district.

"We don't charge a dime for our students to take driver's ed," Superintendent Aaron Homburg said. "I would hate for a kid not to take driver's ed because they couldn't afford it."

Homburg said if Plainville students or any other out-of-district students were interested in taking the class in Natoma, the school board would look at setting a fee for them. As far as he knows, Homburg said there would not be a limit on class size.

In Hays, the school board has passed an across-the-board $400 fee for students this year. If the state comes up with some sort of funding for the program, the fee could be reduced back to $250 for out-of-district students.

According to state guidelines, online driver's education courses do not qualify for the requirement to obtain an age-restricted driver's permit.

Future program

Plainville is not the only school to eliminate driver's education as a cost-saving measure. Dighton and Belleville-Republic County are two others that have.

Reust said she didn't know if state funding for the program would become available once the state's budget crunch has subsided.

"I think that the board maybe would look at it again, but I don't know," Reust said.

In the past, the district had explored offering the class during the school year.

"It actually turns out to cost more to offer it during the school year," Reust said. "It would take (the teacher) out of the regular class and he would be paid on a higher rate."

Adding the class to school-year curriculum also could present scheduling problems, Reust said.

In addition, the district has had problems in the past recruiting driver's education teachers, since Emporia State University is the only school in Kansas offering certification.

Only one of the district's driver's education teachers is an employee of the district. The other had to be hired from out of district.