TITLE 49

MOTOR VEHICLES

CHAPTER 3

MOTOR VEHICLE DRIVER’S LICENSES

49-303A.  Driver’s license or permits issued to certain persons under the age of eighteen years. (1) Attendance requirements. The department may issue a driver’s license, a class D driver’s training instruction permit, a class D supervised instruction permit, or a class D instruction permit to a minor younger than eighteen (18) years of age if, at the time of application, the minor:

(a)  Has received a high school diploma, a high school equivalency diploma, a special diploma or a certificate of high school completion;

(b)  Is enrolled in a public or private school and satisfies relevant attendance requirements;

(c)  Is enrolled in a study course in preparation for a test of general educational development and satisfies relevant attendance requirements;

(d)  Is enrolled in a home education program and satisfies the requirements of rules of the state board of education and the state department of education for such programs; provided that students shall be in compliance with the requirements and have been enrolled in the home education program for at least one (1) school year prior to verification of the attendance request, unless documentation of meeting the requirements of this section in the school year contiguous to enrollment in the home education program can be provided;

(e)  Is enrolled in an accredited college or university;

(f)  Is enrolled in a postsecondary vocational program or a postsecondary adult vocational program and satisfying relevant attendance requirements;

(g)  Is enrolled in a job training program pursuant to state or federal law and satisfying relevant attendance requirements; or

(h)  Is enrolled in other educational activities approved by the board of trustees of the school district and satisfying relevant attendance requirements.

(2)  (a) An applicant for a driver’s license who is under the age of eighteen (18) shall provide written verification of compliance with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section or receipt of a waiver therefrom pursuant to subsection (3) of this section to the department. The necessary verification shall be obtained from the school district. If the applicant is enrolled in or has graduated from a private high school, the verification shall be obtained by the applicant from the governing body of the private school. A school district shall not refuse to provide written verification of compliance with the requirements of this section to the department.

(b)  Schools may implement interventions designed to improve student attendance with their district policies and procedures.

(c)  When applying for a license or any instruction permit, an applicant under age eighteen (18) must provide written verification to the department of compliance with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section or receipt of a waiver therefrom, pursuant to subsection (3) of this section. Written verification shall be obtained from the applicant’s school. The applicant’s school shall not refuse to provide written verification of compliance with the requirements of this section to the department.

(3)  (a) A public school principal, or the principal’s designee, or the designee of the governing body of a private school shall provide written notification to a minor and the minor’s parent, guardian or custodian of the school district’s or private school’s intent to request that the department suspend the minor’s driving privileges because the minor has dropped out of school and has failed to comply with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section.

(b)  The minor or the parent, guardian or custodian of the minor shall have fifteen (15) calendar days from the date of receipt of this notice to request a hearing before the public school principal, or the principal’s designee, or the designee of the governing body of a private school for the purpose of reviewing the pending suspension. The hearing shall be conducted within thirty (30) calendar days after the public school principal, or the principal’s designee, or the designee of the governing body of a private school receives the request.

(c)  The public school principal, or the principal’s designee, or the designee of the governing body of a private school shall waive the requirements of subsection (1) of this section for any minor under its jurisdiction for whom a personal or family hardship requires that the minor have a driver’s license for his or her own or his or her family’s employment or medical care. The public school principal, or the principal’s designee, or the designee of the governing body of a private school shall take into account the recommendations of teachers, other school officials, guidance counselors or academic advisors prior to granting a waiver to the requirements of subsection (1) of this section.

(d)  The hardship waiver provided in paragraph (c) of this section shall be requested, if desired by the minor or the minor’s parent, guardian or custodian at the initial hearing.

(4)  Any person denied a hardship waiver by a public school principal, or the principal’s designee, or the designee of the governing body of a private school may appeal the decision to the board of trustees of the school district or the governing body of the private school. The public or private school shall notify the department of all students not in compliance with subsection (1) of this section or who have been granted a hardship waiver pursuant to subsection (3) of this section.

(5)  Upon receiving written verification that the reinstatement fees have been paid and the minor is again in compliance with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section, the department shall reinstate the minor’s privilege to drive. Thereafter, if the school district determines that the minor is not in compliance with the requirements of subsection (1), the department shall suspend the minor’s driving privilege until the minor is eighteen (18) years old or otherwise satisfies the requirements of subsection (1) of this section, whichever occurs first.

(6)  The department shall report quarterly to each school district the disposition of all requests to suspend driver’s licenses of students of that district. Beginning with the 1996-97 school year, each school district and each private school shall report the number of notifications issued of possible student driver’s license suspensions based on nonattendance, requests to the department to suspend a driver’s license and student driver’s licenses actually suspended.

History:

[49-303A, added 1996, ch. 348, sec. 2, p. 1160; am. 1998, ch. 110, sec. 14, p. 395; am. 2000, ch. 214, sec. 5, p. 588.]