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2018 SESSION
18102499DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 22.1-205 and 46.2-1702 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 22.1-205. Driver education programs.
A. The Board of Education shall establish for the public school system a standardized program of driver education in the safe operation of motor vehicles. Such program shall consist of classroom training and behind-the-wheel driver training. However, any student who participates in such a program of driver education shall meet the academic requirements established by the Board, and no student in a course shall be permitted to operate a motor vehicle without a license or permit to do so issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
1. The
driver education program shall
include (i) instruction concerning (a) alcohol and drug abuse; (b) aggressive
driving; (c) distracted driving; (d) motorcycle awareness; (e) organ and tissue
donor awareness; (f) fuel-efficient driving practices; and (g) traffic stops,
including law-enforcement procedures for traffic stops, appropriate actions to
be taken by drivers during traffic stops, and appropriate interactions with
law-enforcement officers who initiate traffic stops, and (ii) in Planning District 8,
for any student completing a driver education program beginning in academic
year 2010-2011, an additional minimum 90-minute
parent/student driver education component.
2. The
parent/student driver education component may be administered
in-classroom or online, except for components
administered in Planning District 8, which shall
be administered as part of the in-classroom portion of the
driver education curriculum, requiring. Online providers of
the parent/student driver education component shall
be licensed as driver training schools pursuant to §
46.2-1702. The parent/student
driver education component shall
require the participation of the student's parent or
guardian and emphasizing emphasize (i) parental
responsibilities regarding juvenile driver behavior, (ii)
juvenile driving restrictions pursuant to the Code of
Virginia, and (iii) the
dangers of driving while intoxicated and underage consumption of alcohol. Such
instruction shall be developed by the Department in cooperation with the
Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program, the Department of Health, and the
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, as appropriate.
Such 3. Any driver education program
shall require a minimum number of miles driven during the behind-the-wheel
driver training.
B. The Board shall assist school divisions by preparation, publication and distribution of competent driver education instructional materials to ensure a more complete understanding of the responsibilities and duties of motor vehicle operators.
C. Each school board shall determine whether to offer the program of driver education in the safe operation of motor vehicles and, if offered, whether such program shall be an elective or a required course. In addition to the fee approved by the Board of Education pursuant to the appropriation act that allows local school boards to charge a per pupil fee for behind-the-wheel driver education, the Board of Education may authorize a local school board's request to assess a surcharge in order to further recover program costs that exceed state funds distributed through basic aid to school divisions offering driver education programs. Each school board may waive the fee or the surcharge in total or in part for those students it determines cannot pay the fee or surcharge. Only school divisions complying with the standardized program and regulations established by the Board of Education and the provisions of § 46.2-335 shall be entitled to participate in the distribution of state funds appropriated for driver education.
School boards in Planning District 8 shall make the 90-minute parent/student
driver education component available to all students and their parents or
guardians who are in compliance with § 22.1-254.
D. The actual initial driving instruction shall be conducted, with motor vehicles equipped as may be required by regulation of the Board of Education, on private or public property removed from public highways if practicable; if impracticable, then, at the request of the school board, the Commissioner of Highways shall designate a suitable section of road near the school to be used for such instruction. Such section of road shall be marked with signs, which the Commissioner of Highways shall supply, giving notice of its use for driving instruction. Such signs shall be removed at the close of the instruction period. No vehicle other than those used for driver training shall be operated between such signs at a speed in excess of 25 miles per hour. Violation of this limit shall be a Class 4 misdemeanor.
E. The Board of Education may, in its discretion, promulgate regulations for the use and certification of paraprofessionals as teaching assistants in the driver education programs of school divisions.
F. The Board of Education shall approve correspondence courses for the classroom training component of driver education. These correspondence courses shall be consistent in quality with instructional programs developed by the Board for classroom training in the public schools. Students completing the correspondence courses for classroom training, who are eligible to take behind-the-wheel driver training, may receive behind-the-wheel driver training (i) from a public school, upon payment of the required fee, if the school division offers behind-the-wheel driver training and space is available, (ii) from a driver training school licensed by the Department of Motor Vehicles, or (iii) in the case of a home schooling parent or guardian instructing his own child who meets the requirements for home school instruction under § 22.1-254.1 or subdivision B 1 of § 22.1-254, from a behind-the-wheel training course approved by the Board. Nothing herein shall be construed to require any school division to provide behind-the-wheel driver training to nonpublic school students.
§ 46.2-1702. Certification of driver education courses by Commissioner.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commissioner shall have the authority to approve as a driver education course satisfying the requirements of § 46.2-334 any course which is offered by any driver training school licensed under the provisions of this chapter if he finds that the course is of comparable content and quality to that offered in the Commonwealth's public schools. In making such finding, the Commissioner shall not require that the instructors of any driver training school meet the certification requirements of teachers in the Commonwealth's public schools.
Any comprehensive community college within the Virginia Community College System shall have the authority to offer the courses required by the Virginia Board of Education to become a certified driver education instructor in Virginia on a not-for-credit basis so long as the courses include the same content and curriculum required by the Department of Education, enabling individuals who complete those courses to then teach driver's education in Virginia driver education training schools upon official certification by the Department of Motor Vehicles. The Virginia Department of Education shall provide the curriculum, content, and other information regarding the courses required to become certified driver education instructors in Virginia to any comprehensive community college within the Virginia Community College System. The content of each course must be accurate and rigorous and must meet the requirements for the Department of Education's Curriculum and Administrative Guide for Driver's Education, which includes the Board of Education's standards of learning.
Except for schools in the Commonwealth's public school system
and providers of correspondence courses approved by the Board of Education
pursuant to subsection F of § 22.1-205, only those driver training schools that
are licensed as computer-based driver education providers shall be authorized
to administer computer-based driver education courses,
including the parent/student driver education component of the driver education
curriculum as established in § 22.1-205.
The content and quality of such computer-based driver education courses shall
be comparable to that of courses offered in the Commonwealth's public schools.
The Commissioner may establish minimum standards for testing students who have
enrolled in computer-based driver education courses. Such standards may include
(i) requirements for the test site; (ii) verification that the person taking
the test is the person enrolled in the course; (iii) verification of the
identity of the student using photo identification approved by the
Commissioner; and (iv) maintenance of a log containing the name and title of
the licensed instructor monitoring the test, the test date, the name of the
student taking the test, and the student's time-in and time-out of the test
site. Computer-based driver education providers shall not issue a certificate
of completion to a student in Planning
District 8 prior to receiving proof of completion of the additional minimum 90-minute
parent/student driver education component pursuant to § 22.1-205.
Any driver training school licensed under the provisions of
this chapter shall be authorized to provide the
90-minute parent/student driver education component in Planning District 8 of the driver education curriculum pursuant to §
22.1-205. Only those driver
training schools that are licensed as computer-based driver education providers
shall be authorized to administer the parent/student driver education component
of the driver education curriculum through a virtual, computer-based program.
Completion of such education component shall satisfy the requirement for the additional 90-minute
parent/student driver education component
pursuant to § 22.1-205,
so long as there is participation of the student's parent or guardian and the
content provided is comparable to that which is offered in the Commonwealth's
public schools and emphasizes (i) (a) parental responsibilities
regarding juvenile driver behavior, (ii) (b) juvenile driving
restrictions pursuant to this Code, and (iii) (c) the dangers of driving
while intoxicated and underage consumption of alcohol.
The Commissioner shall have authority to approve any driver education course offered by any Class A licensee if he finds the course meets the requirements for such courses as set forth in this chapter and as otherwise established by the Department. Class A licensees shall not be permitted to administer knowledge or behind-the-wheel examinations. Driver education courses offered by any Class B licensee shall be based on the driver education curriculum currently approved by the Department of Education and the Department.
The Commissioner may accept 20 years' service with the Virginia Department of State Police by a person who retired or resigned while in good standing from such Department in lieu of requirements established by the Department of Education for instructor qualification.