The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall also allow as otherwise provided in Section 41304 for the driver training instruction necessary to be safely tested for a driver’s license at the Department of Motor Vehicles, those physically handicapped pupils, pupils with intellectual disabilities who come within the provisions of former Section 56501, as amended by Chapter 1247 of the Statutes of 1977, and educationally handicapped pupils who are in attendance in a public secondary school in California that offers qualified instruction, and who may qualify for a driver’s license, or other license, issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, a total allowance not to exceed two hundred ninety dollars ($290) including the reimbursement provisions set forth in Section 41900 to each school district and county superintendent of schools. All driver training for pupils herein described shall be provided by qualified teachers, as defined by Sections 41906 and 41907. This section may not be applied if reimbursement allowable under Sections 41900 to 41912, inclusive, is sufficient to meet the total cost of instruction as herein described.

It is the intent of the Legislature that driver training instruction be provided to pupils as a part of the high school curriculum, and the Legislature finds and declares that exceptional children are entitled to the benefit of that instruction so far as their individual capabilities permit, understanding that those pupils herein described often require individualized and amplified driver training instruction in order to succeed in becoming safe operators of motor vehicles. Since without a means of self-transportation much of the overall program of education and rehabilitation provided for by the Legislature would be of little avail to the person without the mobility required to become a productive and well-adjusted member of society, the Legislature further declares that it is incumbent upon the state to share in the cost of providing a most needed and desirable program of driver training instruction for these exceptional children.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 457, Sec. 10. (SB 1381) Effective January 1, 2013.)