5 School Districts Stop Offering Driver Training

Five Ventura County school districts have stopped offering driver training classes this fall because of state budget cuts, and school officials say plans by some districts to offer the classes for a fee will shut out students who can’t afford to pay.

Officials in the Simi Valley, Oxnard, Ventura, Fillmore and Santa Paula districts decided not to offer the classes this fall after Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed $21.2 million in program funds.

However, several districts may charge students for the program. The only other option is not to offer training for beginning drivers at all, some school officials said.

In September, the board of the Conejo Valley Unified School District voted to charge students $120 for the course, to make up for $95,563 that the district will lose from the funding cuts.

The board of Ventura Unified School District will consider a similar plan at its meeting tonight. Some Ventura board members have expressed misgivings about the fairness of a fee.

“I really feel it’s not an equitable situation for children who can’t afford it,” said Ventura board President Barbara Myers. “The very students who can’t afford the class are the students who need it.”

In the Ojai Unified School District, the only district in the county that still offers the classes free of charge, the future of the program is in doubt, hanging on whether a new governor will restore the money, said Leo T. Molitor, the Ojai district’s assistant superintendent of business/administrative services.

At its Nov. 6 meeting, the Ojai board will also consider a plan to charge a fee for the class.

Last year, the Ojai district received about $15,000 toward the $27,000 cost of the program, Molitor said. If they decide to continue offering it, the district may have to assume the total cost itself or ask students to pay.

“It’s difficult to take money from other programs to teach young people how to drive,” Molitor said. “It’s a very important skill, but at what price? That’s what districts have to ask.”

Robert L. Kernen, assistant superintendent of the Fillmore Unified School District, said the district will not offer driver training even if state funding is restored because state money covers only about 75% of the program’s cost. The program cost about $17,000 last year, but the state only paid about $13,000, he said.

“We had made a tentative decision even before the governor’s veto, because paying for the program was encroaching on our general fund,” Kernen said.

In the Oak Park Unified School District, students take courses through nearby Las Virgenes Unified School District in Los Angeles County, officials said. The Moorpark Unified School District does not offer a program, said Supt. Thomas G. Duffy.

Most districts in the county offer driver training either before or after school, and it is usually taught by teachers who also have full course loads in other subjects.

Officials in Ventura and Fillmore said they may look to private business to help subsidize driver training programs if the funding is not restored.

At a recent Ventura district board meeting, members discussed asking car dealerships, insurance companies and car stereo companies to fund scholarships for students who cannot afford to pay a fee for the classes.

Officials are also awaiting the outcome of several lawsuits, including one filed by the Salinas School District and the California Assn. of Safety Educators against Deukmejian and the state, said Jim Malkin, the Simi Valley district’s coordinator of special projects.

“If worse comes to worse, we’ll probably offer it through some community service class for a fee,” Malkin said. “But we’re hoping the election of a new governor will change some things.”

Elsewhere: Programs close across the state. A3