Home-school parents are pressing for a change in state law that would allow them to teach their teenagers how to drive. Under current law, home-schooled kids must take a state-sanctioned driver’s ed class at their local high school or from one of the companies that teach the course. Ed Dickerson of Garrison, a lobbyist for the Iowa Home Educators Association, enrolled his three kids in driver’s ed classes taught by his local school district.Garrison says it’s a big expense to pay for a driver’s ed class, and he says “it really disrupts the family” because parents have to shuttle their kids to the classes. This past spring, Governor Vilsack vetoed a bill that would have let home-school parents teach their kids how to drive. Critics of the change said it was wrong to grant home-schooling parents the option of teaching their kids driver’s ed, and not extend that same to all Iowa parents. Others said ensuring kids get formal driving instruction is a safety issue. Garrison and his wife taught their three children at home, and all three of his kids went on to get college degrees.
