Teen Drivers Ed in Kansas: A Parent's Timeline

Before you enroll: does your teen actually need the course?

Think of driver education in Kansas as the ticket to an early start rather than a universal requirement. The Division of Vehicles lists it as mandatory for one credential only: the restricted license a teen can hold from 15 to 16. It is not required for the instruction permit, for the stage that begins at 16, or for the full license at 17.

So the real question for your family is timing. If you need your 15 year old driving alone to school or a part-time job, budget for the course. If not, you can skip it, but notice what you give up: the completion form stands in for the written test and spares you the $3 testing fee.

Here is how the calendar plays out. Say your teen gets the state permit on their 14th birthday in March and starts a summer course. If the course is done and the permit has been held a full year, your teen can apply for the restricted license the following March, at 15.

Choosing a program the state will accept

Only two kinds of programs count in Kansas. One is a course run by an accredited local school district with Department of Education approval. The other is a private driver education school approved by the state, which must deliver at least 8 hours in the classroom and 6 hours behind the wheel. The Division of Vehicles posts a PDF of approved commercial schools with owner names, addresses and phone numbers.

Be careful with anything sold online. Both the handbook and the Division of Vehicles say internet driver education does not satisfy Kansas licensing rules, and the office will turn away an online completion certificate. Not sure about a particular school? Phone 785-296-3671, the Division of Vehicles line, and ask before any money changes hands.

• Counts: your local accredited school district course, if the state education department has approved it
• Counts: a private school that appears on the Division of Vehicles approved list
• Does not count: online courses, including out-of-state internet programs

Before the first office visit: the permit at 14

Your teen can apply for an instruction permit at 14. For any applicant who is 14 or 15, a parent has to approve. Your teen also shows acceptable identity documents, passes a vision screening, and either takes the written exam or turns in a driver education completion certificate in its place.

The written test is 25 questions on signs and traffic law. It can be taken in person or at home through KnowToDrive, the state's online testing portal. For vision, your teen needs 20/40 or better in at least one eye. The Class C permit is good for a year. Each test allows four attempts; a fourth failure means waiting six months.

Paperwork to pack for the counter

Kansas checks documents against lettered lists. Plan on one document for identity and lawful status, which for most citizens is a state-issued birth certificate or an unexpired U.S. passport. Add one document showing the Social Security number and two that prove a Kansas home address. A P.O. box will not work as an address.

Most teens have no bills in their own name. KDOR handles that with a Certification of Address: a parent, step-parent or guardian fills it out and backs it up with two proofs of their own address and their ID. If your teen is under 16, a parent or guardian must come along with photo ID. Bring the course completion form too if your teen has one.

The office takes originals or certified copies only. It refuses faxes, photocopies, laminated papers and anything on a phone screen, and some documents need more than one visit to clear. Book an appointment and carry a spare or two.

• Identity (List A or B): a birth certificate, a U.S. passport, or an immigration document
• Social Security (List D): the card, a W-2, a 1099, or a pay stub that shows every digit
• Address (List C): two items, for example a school report card plus your Certification of Address
• Form DE-98 with a parent's signature, plus any driver ed form

The two forms you will sign as a parent

The parent form is DE-98, titled Permission Affidavit for Kansas Credential, and it covers two things. Its top half is your consent for a minor to hold a credential. Its Driving Time Certification section is where you swear to 50 supervised hours, including 10 at night, with a licensed adult at least 21. A third part is only for farm permits: there, you and an employer state that your teen lives on, or works on, a farm covering 20 acres or more.

Form DE-99 belongs to the course. While class is running, the school hands your teen a blue DE-99 slip that works only for course driving. At the end, the completion slip goes to the license office instead of the written exam, and KDOR records the completion. KDOR's parent handbook also includes a Teen Driving Experience Log for tracking day and night hours.

During the permit year: practice hours that count

Kansas asks for 50 hours of supervised driving with a licensed adult who is at least 21, and 10 of them must be after dark. A teen going for the restricted license at 15 needs at least 25 of those hours logged. The full 50 must be done before 16 to unlock the next stage.

Nobody at the office will ask to see your log, but your signed affidavit stays on file, so keep your own record anyway. Time your teen spends actually driving in the course car counts toward the 50 if the instructor is 21 or older. Watching another student drive, or circling a range without an adult, does not.

At 15: what the restricted license allows

At 15, solo driving is limited to a short list of trips: the commute to a job, the most direct route to school and back on days school is in session, and trips straight to religious activities and home again. For anything else, a licensed adult 21 or older has to sit in the front seat.

No non-sibling minors may ride along, and the phone stays off except to report a crime or call for help. Carrying friends who are minors is a moving violation in its own right. Should your teen collect two moving violations, from two different incidents, before turning 16, the restricted license does not loosen until 17.

At 16 and 17: loosening the limits

At 16, with the 50 hour affidavit filed, the daytime window opens: your teen can go anywhere between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. Outside those hours, trips for a job, an authorized school activity or worship are still allowed. Only one passenger under 18 who is not a brother or sister may ride along, and the phone ban stays.

These rules lift at 17, or earlier once your teen has spent six violation-free months here. Skip the affidavit and nothing lifts before 17. And if your teen holds off and applies for the first time at 17, a full license is available after vision, written and road tests, though you still sign the 50 hour affidavit.

If you live on a farm

Rural families have another option: a farm permit at 14 or 15 that requires neither driver education nor an earlier instruction permit. What it does need: the farm affidavit, your consent as a parent, and passing scores on the eye, knowledge and road exams (a driver ed certificate can substitute).

On a farm permit, the allowed trips are farm work and school days at school. Once your teen is 16 and you have filed the 50 hour affidavit, the farm version of the next stage applies: driving between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m., with room for a single non-sibling rider under 18.

Costs and the car for the driving test

The fee chart (marked updated 5/2023) prices the permit at $2, with an $8 photo charge added. Testing the first time costs $3. Coming back to retest inside six months costs $1.50. Applicants who bring a driver education form pay no testing fee.

You provide the car for the driving exam, and it needs valid insurance and a valid tag. Licenses for drivers under 21 run until the 21st birthday, so when restrictions end the state simply updates its computer record. If you want a card without the restriction printed on it, a replacement costs the $8 photo fee.

If something goes wrong: crashes, violations and phones

Crashes matter most. If your teen is charged with causing two or more accidents, K.S.A. 8-2,101 says the restricted license must be suspended for a year. Ignoring the license conditions, say by driving at 10 p.m. or with a car full of friends, is a separate route to suspension under K.S.A. 8-291.

Phone use is banned for permit and restricted license holders at every stage, except to report a crime or to get medical or emergency help. A simple house rule helps: the phone goes on do not disturb before the engine starts.

If you just moved to Kansas

Kansas does not swap another state's permit or license for its own instruction permit, even if your teen held it for six months or longer. The Division of Vehicles cites K.S.A. 8-239 for this, so expect your teen's one year Kansas permit clock to start after you arrive.

If you are only passing through with a teen on an out-of-state permit, direct the question to the Kansas Highway Patrol; the license office does not handle it.

Insurance during the permit and beyond

Every registered vehicle in Kansas must carry continuous liability insurance, and the handbook lists a lapse as grounds for an indefinite license suspension. The day the permit arrives, phone your insurer and confirm what your policy does for a learner behind the wheel.

Ask on the same call whether completing driver ed, through the school district or an approved private school, gets a student discount. That is each company's own decision, not something state law sets for beginner courses.