Drivers ed to be back in Dale schools next school year

By Ebony Horton

Published: May 27, 2008

OZARK – After six years without a drivers education program, Dale County Schools will give tenth graders a chance to take the elective next school year because of Tuesday’s school board vote to reincorporate the program back into the curriculum.
Dale County superintendent Phillip Parker said board president Fronnie Culverhouse and members Braxton Bell and Larry Ezell voted in favor of reincorporating the program on Tuesday.
Board members Bill McSween and Don Williams abstained, Parker said.
Parker said the program was taken out of the school system in 2002 because of financial problems.
Board members said they shot down his proposal to reincorporate the program last month because of the uncertainty of the state education budget.
Parker said the system still does not know what the state education budget will provide for but that the system would rely on about $55,000 from its $3.4 million general fund to allow two retired teachers, a vehicle and insurance for the drivers education program.
Students will likely be required to pay a $30 fee for fuel assistance during the course, Parker said, and county students who already signed up to take drivers education at other schools could be reimbursed.