Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Wellsboro, is pictured speaking on the House floor earlier this legislative session.

A proposal forthcoming in the state House of Representatives would allow schools to administer a students’ driver’s permit test.

Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Wellsboro, is drafting legislation that would create a three-year pilot program for schools to administer PennDOT’sdriver permit test. School districts would be able to opt into the program and provide an eligible student the ability to take the written portion of their permit test right at the school.

“This idea was brought to me by a teacher in my district that is concerned with the number of 11th and 12th graders who graduate without a driver’s license, creating a barrier to the enter workforce. She shared concern with the substantial increase in the number of students who do not have the guardian support, transportation ability, or time flexibility to go to the DMV for the test. This issue is especially prevalent in rural areas such as my district where the DMV is only open one day a week, significantly limiting a student’s means to take the test. We must provide greater opportunities to equip the next generation of students in graduating with a Pennsylvania driver’s license in hand.”

This isn’t the first time Owlett has taken PennDOT to task for limited options for rural Pennsylvania residents when it comes to PennDOT services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Owlet proposed the Rural Access to PennDOT Services Act that would require PennDOT to reopen the sites to the operational level that these sites were at prior to the pandemic within two weeks of enactment. Many rural residents at the time weren’t available during the limited hours PennDOT staff traveled to the sites to offer things like driving tests.

Because the legislation hasn’t been drafted, it’s not known if Owlett would include funding for schools to administer the tests or if there would be additional training necessary for schools to score the tests. But without additional funding for PennDOT to have its facilities open more in some rural areas, Owlett said schools should be an option for students who want to get their learner’s permit and otherwise can’t do so easily.

“In order for Pennsylvania’s future economy to be successful we need to eliminate the difficulties and increase the opportunities for students to obtain their learner’s permit and driver’s license so they can become independent contributors to our communities,” Owlett said. “The goal would be to equip our schools and allow them to fill portions of this need while maintaining the integrity of our driver’s license process.”