Raising a New Driver in Delaware: The 12 Month Program

Before you sign up: is the course optional?

Not for anyone under 18. To be issued a Level One permit, a teen has to present the Delaware Driver Education Certificate showing a pass in a certified Delaware course. The DMV's manual refers to it as the Blue Certificate, and no teen between 16 and 18 is excused from it.

There is extra time for students with an active Individual Education Program. They may finish driver education as late as age 21 and start the graduated program as late as 22, and the IEP team agrees any accommodations with the teacher who runs driver education.

Before you sign up: what the 44 hours look like

Regulation 540 from the Department of Education sets the floor at 44 class hours. Thirty are in a classroom, seven are behind-the-wheel lab time, and seven are spent in the car watching another student drive. A class hour has to last 45 minutes or more.

Schools are allowed some substitutions for the driving portion. A simulator can stand in for up to 3 of the 7 driving hours at four simulator hours per road hour, or an off-street driving range at two to one, but substitutes can never cover more than half of the driving and never replace classroom time. Students get a pass or a fail, and the school may grant a quarter elective credit.

• Classroom: 30 hours
• Driving lab: 7 hours
• Observation in the car: 7 hours
• Pass the course and the Blue Certificate follows

Before you sign up: where and how much

In Delaware, driver education lives inside the high school curriculum. If a high school, public or private, has a tenth grade class of 25 or more, it must run the course. Every resident student, home-schooled ones included, may take it one time free of charge.

What if your teen's school is too small, is out of state, or is a home school? You can ask for the free summer program, which runs from June 10 to August 31 and needs the Secretary of Education's approval. A teen who fails the first time can retake the course through a district adult driver education program, at a fee the Department of Education sets.

A course taken in another state counts only after the Department of Education agrees it is equivalent. Until that approval exists, the DMV will not accept it.

At the DMV: getting the Level One permit

Your teen must be 16 or 17. At the counter: the Blue Certificate, identity documents, two Delaware residency proofs, an eye screening and the $50 Class D fee. The permit itself looks just like a regular license, and every new Delaware license carries an 8 year term.

The sponsor signs in front of DMV staff. A parent shows the relationship with the teen's original or certified birth certificate. Stepparents qualify only through adoption or a guardianship appointment. Until the teen turns 18, a sponsor can pull their endorsement whenever they choose.

For the paperwork, plan on one document proving identity and legal presence (typically a U.S. birth certificate, original or certified, bearing a raised seal), one showing the Social Security number, and two showing a Delaware address from different sources and postmarked in the last 60 days. Because your teen is a minor, one document has to name a parent or guardian, which the birth certificate usually covers. Photocopies, wallet cards and hospital records are refused.

Months one to six: always with a supervisor

No solo driving at all in this stretch. The adult beside your teen has to be 25 or older, must have held a Class D license for 5 years or more, and must ride in the front passenger seat.

When month six ends, the sponsor sends the Department of Education a certification of at least 50 driving hours, with at least 10 done after dark. Logging as you go saves a lot of guessing later.

A practical rhythm: about two hours a week gets you to 50 in roughly six months. Put one evening drive in most weeks and the 10 night hours take care of themselves.

All twelve months: passenger and phone limits

For the life of the permit, the car may hold your teen, the adult supervisor and one more passenger; immediate family members do not count toward that limit while the supervisor is present. When your teen drives alone in months 7 through 12, one passenger is the limit.

No texting, no calls and no similar electronic device while driving. Every person in the car buckles up or uses the right child or booster seat. The permit has to be with your teen on every drive.

If something goes wrong: what violations cost

The DMV handles a broken permit restriction as if your teen had driven with no license: a 2 month suspension the first time and 4 months each time after.

Suspended time, along with any revocation, cancellation or surrender time, is not credited toward the year. The DMV tacks it on afterward, so one mistake can push the full license back by months.

Phones carry their own schedule for permit holders: a first offense costs 1 month and every later offense 3 months. Add that to the end of the program and one text in spring can mean no full license until well into the next school year.

At twelve months: the full Class D license

The DMV says the Level One permit becomes a Class D license on its own once your teen has 12 full months of valid driving privileges, is at least 17, and still has a sponsor. No return trip to the DMV for a new card is needed.

A teen who turns 18 partway through has two options: keep going until the year is up, or go to the DMV and pass its vision, knowledge and road tests. If a disability affects driving, the driver education teacher flags it and the DMV handles the testing.

If you are moving to Delaware with a teen driver

A licensed 16 or 17 year old from another state has 60 days after becoming a Delaware resident to get a Delaware license. The checklist: a sponsor's signature, an approved driver education course, a vision check, then the DMV's knowledge test and road test.

Held the old license more than 12 months? Your teen may get a Class D after testing. Less than 12 months usually means starting on a Level One permit. Delaware does not set an insurance discount for teen driver education, so ask your own insurer whether it offers one.

Get the out-of-state course reviewed before the DMV visit, because the DMV waits for Education's approval. Send the course certificate by fax (302-739-1770) or by mail, addressed to the driver education associate, Department of Education, Collette Education Resource Center, Suite 1, 35 Commerce Way, Dover, DE 19904. For questions, phone 302-857-3320.