State officials are working to make it easier for high school students to get their learner’s permits.

The pilot program being launched at Williamson High School in Tioga will allow students to take the knowledge test required to obtain a permit at school rather than making an appointment at a PennDOT location.

Williamson High School and Cowanesque High School will test the program over a two-year period. The Northern Tioga School District is part of the state’s vast rural region where PennDOT locations are few and far between. If the pilot’s successful, they’ll discuss widening it to more districts.

“In our more rural areas of the state, folks are used to driving longer distances, but it can be time-consuming and inconvenient,” said PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “There are also fewer driver license centers in our rural areas, so out-of-the-box thinking and programs like this one can be a big time saver for aspiring young drivers and their families.”

All-day commutes to access basic services are part of a difficult calculus rural families have to engage in. The threat of missed work can be an obstacle to everything from obtaining health care to pursuing higher education or helping a teen obtain the very thing they need to get by in the country – a driver’s license.

“The knowledge testing program being offered online is allowing our students to access an important milestone, getting a driver’s permit, more easily,” said Northern Tioga School District Superintendent Kristopher Kaufman. “By allowing this test to be offered at their local school, students will not need to miss a day of school and families will not need to miss a day of work to travel to a DMV.”

The Times Observer reported in 2023 on legislation proposed by Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Wellsboro, 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.

John Whittaker contributed to this report.