RS 17:270 Driver education and training program for children
§270. Driver education and training program for children
A. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, shall establish and operate a driver education and training program in each parish of this state for children who are fifteen years of age and older. The program shall consist of a course of not less than eight hours of actual driving experience and thirty hours of classroom instruction. A child who is in at least the ninth grade and is within ninety days of his fifteenth birthday may participate in the classroom instruction component of the program. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall provide written notice to each city, parish, and local school board of the requirements of this Subsection. The aims and purposes of the driver education and training program shall be to educate drivers to be competent and to develop a knowledge of those provisions of the law of this state relating to the operation of motor vehicles, a proper acceptance of personal responsibility in traffic, a true appreciation of the causes, seriousness, and consequences of traffic accidents, and the knowledge, attitudes, habits, and skills necessary for the safe operation of motor vehicles. The course shall include training on railroad and highway grade crossing safety and on sharing the road with motorcycles and tractor-trailer trucks and at least thirty minutes of instruction relative to organ and tissue donation. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education shall develop the organ and tissue portion of the driver education and training program in conjunction with the federally designated organ procurement organization for the state of Louisiana. However, no student shall be required to take the organ and tissue donation instruction if his parent or tutor submits a written statement indicating that such instruction conflicts with the religious beliefs of the student.
B. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall prescribe such rules and regulations as are necessary and proper to provide for the conduct and operation of the driver education and training program. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall approve operating procedures defining the conduct and scope of the use of driving simulators to be used in the program. In addition to and supplementary to all other powers authorized by law, the superintendent of education is authorized to purchase for cash or by lease-purchase agreement all the necessary equipment, visual and training aids and devices, and all related materials required to conduct and operate the program.
C. The superintendent of education shall account for all funds provided for and expended under authority of this Section in a detailed statement submitted to the next regular session of the legislature, and annually thereafter.
D. The driver training program conducted by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections under the authority of R.S. 40:1461-40:1465 is hereby abolished and all driving simulators, necessary equipment, visual and training aids and devices and related materials used in such program shall be transferred to the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the state Department of Education. All funds appropriated to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections for the conduct of the driver training program shall be transferred to the state Department of Education.
E. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education may establish a standard cost per student enrolled in driver education and training programs, based upon the annual cost of the driver education and training program and allocation of such cost on a pro rata basis among the students in the program. The board may require local education agencies to reimburse the Department of Education for the cost of such program based upon the number of students in the program in the local education agency and the standard cost per student.
Added by Acts 1968, No. 283, §1; Acts 1986, No. 985, §1; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 80, §1; Acts 2003, No. 312, §1; Acts 2004, No. 216, §1; Acts 2008, No. 768, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2009; Acts 2009, No. 275, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2010.