Driving privileges: Ritchie, students discuss legislation

It wasn't exactly a hostile audience that awaited state Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg, Monday afternoon. But it was one with some tough questions.

Ritchie talked with a group of Carver Junior High School ninth-graders about his recently proposed legislation to tie school work to kids' right to drive.

The bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Glenn Reese, D-Boiling Springs, would take away the driver's licenses of students under 18 who miss 10 or more days of school without a proper excuse. Students who fail courses that count toward a diploma would also lose the right to drive.

"For you all, getting a high school education is essential," Ritchie told the group.

"Driving is a privilege."

Neither point was refuted by the students, who are mostly about a year away from becoming eligible to drive.

But they did question whether Ritchie's idea was the best way to encourage kids to stay in school.

Some students fall so far behind in school that driving privileges would hardly matter, one student said.

One student noted that many of the state's poorest students might not have a car to drive anyway. Others said that some teenagers would simply drive

with or without a license.

Ritchie reminded students that those driving without a license could face fines or even jail time and took their other comments in stride. He even acknowledged that his bill isn't a perfect solution.

"But this is the one I thought was the best," he said, adding that providing schools with proper resources to help struggling students is essential to reducing the dropout rate.

Ritchie explained that schools would be required to inform the Department of Motor Vehicles when students have had too many unexcused absences.

That's the part of the legislation that worries teacher Christa Stevens, whose government students participated in Monday's forum.

She said she hadn't ruled out the plan and noted that her students had researched in class the issue of the dropout rate. But she said that a researcher with the National Dropout Prevention Center told her that states with laws similar to the one Ritchie has proposed have had little success.

"They say it's a bureaucratic nightmare," she said, pointing to the responsibility of schools and the DMV to communicate and both keep records on the students.

Asked why so many of the state's students – nearly half – end up quitting school, ninth grader Pamela Brown said, "They have kids, or they're thinking about the 'thug life,' not about school."

But Brown was convinced Ritchie's plan would help keep at least some teenagers in school.

"It would motivate me," she said.

Ritchie said he enjoyed his talk with the students. He added that they even gave him some ideas to take back to Columbia – including the possibility of allowing honor roll students the privilege of driving at night with a restricted license.

"They were very well-prepared," he said. "(Stevens) had done a wonderful job of explaining the issue and how South Carolina is in trouble with the dropout rate."

For her part, Stevens said she hoped the forum would give her students insight in the importance of political decisions.

"The goal is for them to see that politicians are doing work that can affect their lives in an immediate way," she said.

Baker Maultsby can be reached at 562-7425 or baker.maultsby@shj.com.

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