Wake County familes scrambling to find driver's ed courses for young drivers

Many families are now scrambling to enroll their teenagers in driver’s education courses after the Wake County school board announced Tuesday that it would suspend its programs at the end of the week.

With limited options available, many families are turning to private driving schools—and spending more money—to make sure their children are safe on the road.

The suspension stems from a budget dispute over $26 million in state funding for driver’s education programs, which has left all driver’s education programs at schools without funding.

The decision has forced nearly half of all districts in the state, including Wake, Cumberland, Orange and Guilford, to suspend their driver’s education programs.

Mickey Tripp, who spends nearly eight hours a day as a driving instructor for Carolina Road Driving School, may start spending even more time with young drivers.

“We may come up with some after school plans,” Tripp said. “But even with that, it's not going to be enough. You're talking 15,000 people in Wake County.”

Tripp said the driving school received 32 voicemails overnight and that registration has doubled in the last 24 hours.

“I'd be panicked if I couldn't get my kid into driver’s education because of fact number one, they're shutting it down in Wake County,” Tripp said. “Number two, they go to a private school and the private school is completely booked.”

Driving school officials and instructors said families should pursue looking into credible private schools for driving instructional classes.