Boyle: Thanks, legislators! Driver's ed debacle inflicts $525 tab

I'd just like to pause today to genuinely thank the North Carolina General Assembly — for costing me $525.

Yes, that is sarcasm you detect.

Thanks to some serious dithering on our legislators' part, my family was one of probably hundreds across the state caught in driver's education limbo this summer. Our youngest son just turned 15, and he couldn't get into class before the school year ended and was scheduled for a summertime session.

But the House and Senate could not agree on a plan for the future of driver's ed, so funding ran out June 30. And his school in Henderson County, like many other mountain systems, stopped offering the course.

We could've waited till they come to an agreement, but who knows how long that will be with this bunch? Put a bill about usurping Greensboro's City Council authority in front of them, or one allowing open season on opossums so a country store can have a New Year's Eve varmint drop, and they're all over that, passing legislation through the system like a tainted burrito.

But give them something that affects regular folks' lives, and they can't reconcile two approaches.

One approach, favored by the House, essentially leaves the system intact, with the state picking up most of the cost and requiring future drivers to take the course, which consists of classroom and behind-the-wheel instruction. Under this plan, school systems would continue charging $65 for driver's ed, funding the remainder with $26.4 million from late charges for vehicle registrations.

The Senate leans toward a proposal to study shifting the program to community colleges in the 2016-17 fiscal year, but lifting the $65 cap to cover schools' actual cost, which can run to $300 or more. Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, then proposed just eliminating the requirement for the class altogether, but requiring 85 hours of driving with a parent or guardian (up from 60), and that students score 85 on the written test, up from the standard of 80.

The idea there is that you shouldn't require a really expensive course if a lot of folks can't afford it.

I wouldn't really say we can afford what we're paying. For our other, older son, we paid $65, so $525 stings.

We felt trapped because we didn't want the younger son to be without his license when he starts his junior year. He'll need to be able to drive himself to school and after-school events.

So we bit the bullet and took a sizable chunk of funds from savings and paid a private company for the program.

Did I mention it charges $525?

I realize this isn't the end of the world, and we'll suck it up. It's not like Medicaid expansion, which Republicans also have dithered on, which has left North Carolinians without health care, a much more troubling negative impact.

But what's baffling here is that this comes down to Republicans arguing with each other. They control both legislative houses with overwhelming majorities, and even when the governor, also a Republican, vetoes something, they can easily override him.

So, what happened? I called Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, for a rundown.

"The decision to end driver's ed funding was not actually made this year; it was made more than a year ago," Hise told me. "The funds were placed as non-recurring in last year's budget, so there are no additional funds."

This did not make me feel better. Knowing that they've had over a year to solve a real problem exacerbated my irritation. By a factor of, let's say, 525.

While it may sound a little nutty to eliminate driver's education, Hise makes some sense on this, and on the bigger picture.

He frames all this as part of Gov. Pat McCrory's push for $1.3 billion for transportation funding. Senate budget writers want to stop taking transfers out of highway funds for programs such as driver's ed, which Hise maintains could raise $350 million a year in additional recurring funds.

That means over four years they could raise that $1.3 billion, without having to borrow money.

OK, but what about eliminating the class altogether? I'll admit to skepticism about this, mainly because I've written way too many stories about fatal traffic wrecks involving teens, and seen too many statistics, like these from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• In 2011, about 2,650 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed and almost 292,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes

• Young people ages 15-24 represent 14 percent of the U.S. population but account for 30 percent ($19 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among males and 28 percent ($7 billion) of the total costs of motor vehicle injuries among females.

My thinking is that teen drivers need all the instruction they can get.

Anyone who's been through the driver's ed course knows much of it can be boring, but it also has some serious value in hammering home in young people's minds just how serious — and dangerous — driving can be. I also think that behind-the-wheel instruction from someone other than a parent is critical, mainly because, as every parent knows, teenagers tend to think their parents couldn't possibly have any useful knowledge.

Hise says driver's ed undoubtedly has some value, but he's skeptical, particularly about the importance of those two hours behind the wheel with a non-parent instructor. (Six hours are required, but three students are in the car and they take turns.)

I suggested that a lot of parents are pretty horrible drivers, from what I see out on the roads, and they probably shouldn't be teaching their children.

"But it would be just as big a mistake to think that the two hours those individuals have spent in the car driving with a driver's education instructor is sufficient to say, 'Now they're capable of being on the road,'" Hise said. "You're going to need that time with a responsible parent or guardian in the vehicle in order to learn to be a good driver."

We could argue this till 525 cows come home. So, why not get the deal done, one way or the other, before the money ran out?

"From my conversation with the transportation chairs and others, this was worked out a year ago, and the funds were placed non-recurring," Hise said, making me suspect he must have been a master dodge ball player in his youth.

Just for fun, I asked if the state would consider refunds for parents caught in the middle, like me?

"I don't think there's a concept of refunding it," he said.

I'm shocked.

This is the opinion of John Boyle. Contact him at 828-232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com