PLACENTIA : District Can’t Afford True Driver Training

The Placentia Unified School Board has decided to drop its behind-the-wheel driver training classes on April 15 because state funding for the program has been cut.

District staff warned the board Tuesday that if state funding wasn’t restored, the program would begin to drain the district’s general fund. Each year, the program costs the Placentia district about $130,000, much of which came from the state and money collected from traffic fines.

“It’s an outstanding program . . . but that’s not the issue,” Sharon McHolland, the assistant superintendent for educational services, told the school board. “It’s a program that impacts the general fund unless it is reimbursed.”

High school driver training classes have been eliminated or cut back across the state since July as a result of a $21.2-million line-item budget veto by then-Gov. George Deukmejian.

The school still has the money to offer driver education classes. But the behind-the-wheel laboratory for such classes was not funded in the state budget this year, which would have reimbursed the Placentia district for the 1989-90 program.

“You get funded the year after you run the program,” Supt. James Fleming said before the meeting. “They’re not backing us up.”

Since last year, the district had been paying for its portion of the behind-the-wheel program with money left over from previous years. That money has now run out.

All first-semester students in the Placentia district will receive classroom and behind-the-wheel training. But all second-semester students will receive only classroom instruction, which will be completed by April 15. After that, they will have to go to other schools or private programs, such as a $125 course offered by the North Orange County Community College District.

Trustee Connie Underhill said that she fears the suspension of funding will mean fewer teen-agers will have their licenses and put a strain on school busing.

“Ultimately it impacts the youngster,” she said. “Fewer kids will be qualified to drive.”

But trustee Quentin Goodman predicted that most parents would pay for their children to go through private training programs anyway. The Placentia district didn’t charge for its program, although parents were asked to contribute $15 toward the training.

“I suspect that most people would take advantage of the private opportunities to obtain it,” Goodman said. “They’re going to want to get their license.”