Senate Bill 2695: Mandatory Driver Education

March 5, 2024May 22, 2024 Bill Tracker

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On May 10, the Governor signed SB 2695 into law.

Explanation of the Bill

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The conference report for Senate Bill 2695 would require first-time driver’s license applicants to complete a driver education and training program in order to obtain a license. Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, public high schools would be required to offer a driver education and training program. By July 1, 2026, the Department of Public Safety would be required to establish a driver education and training program to serve home school students and adults without a license who have not taken a driver’s education course. Offering driver education is currently optional for school districts, and completing such a program is not required for obtaining a license. Mississippi has the highest rate of fatal car crashes as well as the highest rate of fatal car crashes involving teen drivers in the nation.

While the previous version of SB 2696 included a number of minimum requirements for high school driver education courses, many of these requirements are absent from the conference report for the bill. Similar to the previous version, though, high school driver education courses would be required to include classroom instruction and behind-the-wheel instruction. Students would not be required to obtain a learner’s permit or driver’s license in order to participate in behind-the-wheel instruction. Upon completing the program, a student would be issued a certificate of completion. The State Superintendent of Education and Commissioner of Public Safety would be responsible for recommending additional rules and regulations for a driver’s education course in secondary schools to the State Board of Education. 

SB 2695 would require the Department of Public Safety to establish a driver education program by July 1, 2026 for students and adults who do not have access to the secondary school courses. The bill contains few specifications about this program other than noting that participants completing the program would be issued a certificate of completion.

There are currently very few requirements for obtaining a driver’s license in Mississippi. First-time driver’s license applicants must pass a written knowledge exam and an eye exam to obtain their learner’s permit, which can then be immediately upgraded to a driver’s license without the applicant having to pass a road test (road tests have not been required since 2020). A few additional requirements exist for applicants under 18, including certification of school attendance (though this requirement is waived for applicants under 18 who are married—a waiver that SB 2695 would repeal).

Current requirements do not include a road test or completion of a driver education program. SB 2695 would not require a road test to obtain a license. However, beginning on July 1, 2027, it would require all first-time applicants to complete a driver education program through a course certified by the Mississippi Board of Education or the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. 

SB 2695 does not address how driver education courses in high school would be funded, though it would require the State Superintendent of Education and the Commissioner of Public Safety to prepare an estimated budget report of the costs related to the implementation of mandatory driver education programs. They would be required to present this report to the Legislature by July 1, 2025.