§ 31-10-19 - Driver education – Traffic safety education.
SECTION 31-10-19
§ 31-10-19 Driver education – Trafficsafety education. – (a) The Community College of Rhode Island shall provide thirty-three (33) hoursof classroom instruction for applicants or prospective applicants, not morethan twenty-one (21) years of age for a limited instruction permit or license.The instruction shall include eight (8) hours, specifically for instruction onthe effects of alcohol and drugs on a driver, and the instruction shall begiven by a person eligible for a teacher's certificate issued under theauthority of the state board of regents and which course of instruction shallbe approved by the board of governors for higher education. In case ofemergency, the President of the Community College of Rhode Island may declare,when no certified instructor is available to teach, an individual eligible toteach at the Community College of Rhode Island who has taken the requiredcourse of instruction in driver education, may provide driver educationinstruction. All driver education programs shall include information concerningthe Anatomical Gift Act, chapter 18.6 of title 23, and information on donorcards pursuant to the applicable provisions of chapter 18.6 of title 23. Theboard of governors for higher education shall ensure that each person properlycertified and approved to instruct driver education courses shall be given anequal opportunity for employment as an instructor within the driver educationprogram. No person teaching driver education under this section shall own, beemployed by, or be associated with a commercial driving school.
(b) Driver education instruction shall be available to anyeligible resident applicant not less than fifteen (15) years and ten (10)months of age.
(c) That the state shall also provide a separate program ofinstruction, as previously set forth in this section, for special needsstudents whose individual education plan (IEP) indicates a need for a separateprogram of instruction.
(d) The Community College of Rhode Island shall provide adriver training program for physically handicapped drivers. The program shallinstruct the physically handicapped driver in the operation of adapted vehiclesfor the handicapped. The adapted vehicles are to be provided by the handicappedindividual. A physically handicapped person must be certified by a licensedphysician that he or she is physically handicapped and possesses sufficientpotential to become a competent motor vehicle operator. The Community Collegeof Rhode Island shall establish a tuition fee sufficient to cover the cost ofthe program.
(e) A tuition or enrollment fee shall be required to be paidby an eligible applicant in accordance with rules and regulations of the boardof governors for higher education; provided, that personal checks shall be anacceptable method of payment of the tuition or enrollment fee. The tuition orenrollment fee shall be deposited in a restricted receipt account establishedto pay any and all costs associated with the driver education program at theCommunity College of Rhode Island and administered by the Community College ofRhode Island.
(f) The board of governors for higher education is authorizedto establish administrative regulations to further implement this section.
(g) The Community College of Rhode Island shall establishtuition fees sufficient to cover the cost of the program and the administrationof the driver education program. All positions established to implement thedriver education program and funded in full by driver education program feesshall be exempt from the full-time equivalency cap established in Article 1 ofthe Appropriations Act, provided, however, that the board of governors shallreport by June 1, 2004, the actual number of filled positions fundedexclusively by driver education fees to the chairperson of the house financecommittee, the chairperson of the senate finance committee and the state budgetofficer.
(h) The board of governors for higher education shall providefor an optional and voluntary course of instruction for the applicant's parent,guardian, or designee where applicable, on the content of the driver educationcurriculum and the requirements for the graduated licensing for persons underthe age of eighteen (18) as contained in § 31-10-6. The community collegeof Rhode Island shall be responsible to develop the course of instruction andcontent for the parent instruction, or may approve a similar course ofinstruction, such as AAA's course, as equivalent to it, and shall promulgateregulations and establish the appropriate method of providing the instruction.