County Refuels High School Driver's Ed Program — For Now

Manatee County commissioners are refueling the school district's driver's education program for high school students, at least for this year, but they want to take a look under the hood.

The Board of County Commissioners 0n Tuesday unanimously approved a $135,475 payment to the school distrct for its driver's ed safety program. But several commissioners said they want to hear a full report on how the district is spending the money and how many students it's serving.

The funding comes as part of the Dori Slosberg Driver's Education Safety Act, enacted in 2002, which enabled Florida counties to impose an additional $5 fee on civil traffic penalties that would pay for enhanced driver's ed programs at public and private schools. Manatee County passed such an ordinance in 2006.

The state law stipulates that the funds collected must go toward enhancing existing programs and can only be spent on direct educational expenses. County attorneys said the school district has been waiting to be reimbursed for its driver's ed expenditures from October 2010 to September 2011 and that without the county funds, it would have to kill the program altogether.

Officials also said that given the budget crunch the Manatee school district is facing, they have tried to lobby state lawmakers to amend the law's wording so that it wasn't as restrictive, but with no luck.

Commissioner Joe McClash said he'd like to hear a report from the school district on exactly how the money is being spent and how many students it's helping. McClash said he's very concerned about the level of education young drivers are receiving, especially in the wake of a recent accident in Sarasota in which four teens were killed.

"They're taking up their driving habits from their parents, and sometimes parents aren't the best teachers out there," McClash said.

Commissioner Robin DiSabatino said today's teen drivers need even more education than those who came before them, including the children of many of the commission members who are now grown.

"They didn't have cell phones, they didn't have texting and all this stuff going on," DiSabatino said. "It's a different world, and we need to educate them."

Commissioners Larry Bustle and Michael Gallen said they'd also like to hear from the school district.

"I don't know if these classes are the most efficient use (of funds) right now," Gallen said.

The legislation was named for the late daughter of state representative Irving "Irv" Slosberg, who died in a car crash.