New Program Will Fund Driver’s Ed For Students in Low-Income Students

Urban Milwaukee

By: Jeramey Jannene - Sep 5th, 2024 03:48 pm

A new Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) program will pay to send approximately 11,500 low-income high school students per year to driver’s education classes.

The program, designed to tackle reckless driving and equity issues across the state, comes as a result of a two-year campaign by Common Ground Southeastern Wisconsin, support from the insurance industry and bipartisan backing in the Wisconsin State Legislature.

“This will have a positive impact on reducing reckless driving and improving safety on Wisconsin’s roads,” said Department of Motor Vehicles administrator Tommy Winkler.

“It won’t completely solve the problem of reckless driving, but we think it’s part of the solution,” said Common Ground strategy team member and a former Pathways High School administrator Franz Meyer. “It’s been 20 years since the state funded driver’s education, and the number of people that have taken driver’s education has been going down, and the number of people driving recklessly has been going up.”