WA lawmakers consider options to make drivers ed more equitable

Maybe you learned how to drive in an empty big-box store parking lot, at night, with a terrified parent next to you, all tensed up and shrieking. Or, maybe you learned from your gym teacher after school.

Today, 16- and 17-year-olds in Washington are mostly turning to private driver’s ed companies.

Up until the year 2000, nearly every school district in the state offered a driver’s ed course. But those largely faded away after the Washington Legislature cut funding in 2002.

And now, lawmakers are trying to confront the ramifications of that decision.

Soundside host Libby Denkmann caught up with David Kroman — a staff reporter for The Seattle Times — about two new bills legislators in Olympia are considering that would change how young Washingtonians qualify for their license.