1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to education; establishing a pilot program 
  1.3             for affordable and quality driver safety education for 
  1.4             students; appropriating money. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  [DRIVER SAFETY EDUCATION PILOT PROGRAM.] 
  1.7      Subdivision 1.  [ESTABLISHMENT.] A driver safety education 
  1.8   pilot program is established to provide affordable and quality 
  1.9   driver safety education to students attending public secondary 
  1.10  schools.  The commissioner of children, families, and learning 
  1.11  shall award three two-year grants with two grants to two public 
  1.12  secondary schools in the seven-county metropolitan area and one 
  1.13  grant to a public secondary school in greater Minnesota.  The 
  1.14  commissioner may establish the criteria for the grants and the 
  1.15  amount of each grant.  
  1.16     Subd. 2.  [APPLICATION.] A driver safety education pilot 
  1.17  program applicant must be a public secondary school.  To be 
  1.18  eligible for a pilot program grant, a public secondary school 
  1.19  must submit an application to the commissioner of children, 
  1.20  families, and learning in the form and manner prescribed by the 
  1.21  commissioner.  
  1.22     Subd. 3.  [PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.] (a) A driver safety 
  1.23  education pilot program must pay 80 percent of the cost of an 
  1.24  eligible student's fee for driver education instruction provided 
  1.25  to the student through the pilot program.  The student shall be 
  2.1   responsible for the remaining 20 percent of the cost. 
  2.2      (b) As a condition of participating in the program, a 
  2.3   student must remain in school until completing the requirements 
  2.4   for high school graduation or attend an alternative program 
  2.5   leading to high school graduation.  Whenever a student age 16 
  2.6   years or older, but under the age of 18 years, who is 
  2.7   participating in the pilot program drops out of school, the 
  2.8   attendance director or chief administrator of the school must 
  2.9   certify that fact to the commissioner of public safety within 
  2.10  five days of the student dropping out.  The commissioner of 
  2.11  public safety shall prescribe the form for this certification 
  2.12  and shall provide the school participating in the pilot program 
  2.13  with a copy of the form.  The form must provide a space in which 
  2.14  the attendance director or chief administrator shall state an 
  2.15  opinion as to whether the student dropped out as a result of 
  2.16  circumstances beyond the student's control.  For purposes of 
  2.17  this paragraph, "circumstances beyond a student's control" means 
  2.18  personal or family emergency, physical or mental disability, or 
  2.19  other circumstance that requires a student to withdraw from 
  2.20  school but does not demonstrate an intent to terminate the 
  2.21  student's education.  The term does not include suspension, 
  2.22  exclusion, or expulsion from school or imprisonment in or 
  2.23  assignment to a correctional institution. 
  2.24     (c) An instructor in a driver safety education pilot 
  2.25  program must be a licensed teacher under Minnesota Statutes, 
  2.26  section 125.05, and hold a current valid driver education 
  2.27  teacher license from the board of teaching. 
  2.28     Subd. 4.  [STUDENT ELIGIBILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY.] (a) A 
  2.29  student between the ages of 15 and 18 years who is attending a 
  2.30  secondary school receiving a driver safety education pilot 
  2.31  program grant is eligible to participate in the pilot program if 
  2.32  the student received a passing grade in 80 percent of the 
  2.33  student's high school courses in the school year immediately 
  2.34  preceding the school year in which the student is seeking 
  2.35  enrollment in the pilot program. 
  2.36     (b) Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, sections 171.04 and 
  3.1   171.18, a student who drops out of school before completing the 
  3.2   requirements for graduation or is not attending an alternative 
  3.3   program leading to high school graduation after completing 
  3.4   driver education training through the pilot program, and has 
  3.5   received a driver's license through the department of public 
  3.6   safety under this program, shall have the driver's license 
  3.7   suspended by the department of public safety until reaching the 
  3.8   age of 18 years or reenrolling in a secondary school or an 
  3.9   alternative program.  The attendance director or chief 
  3.10  administrator of the school or alternative program must certify 
  3.11  that fact to the commissioner of public safety within five days 
  3.12  of the student reenrolling.  The commissioner of public safety 
  3.13  shall prescribe the form for this certification and shall 
  3.14  provide the school with a copy of the form.  
  3.15     Subd. 5.  [TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.] The commissioner of 
  3.16  children, families, and learning shall provide technical 
  3.17  assistance to a school participating in the pilot program. 
  3.18     Subd. 6.  [REPORT.] A school participating in the pilot 
  3.19  program shall report to the commissioner of children, families, 
  3.20  and learning on the effectiveness of the program by August 1 of 
  3.21  each year of the program. 
  3.22     Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  3.23     $2,500,000 is appropriated in fiscal year 1999 from the 
  3.24  general fund to the commissioner of children, families, and 
  3.25  learning for the purposes of section 1.