Teen Drivers Ed in Louisiana: A Parent's Roadmap

Before you enroll: the course is mandatory

Louisiana leaves no wiggle room. OMV's rule is that every applicant completes driver education, and for a teen between 14 years 9 months and 17 that means the 38 hour course: 30 hours of classroom teaching and 8 hours behind the wheel.

Licensed driving schools teach it, and so do some high schools. OMV's Driver's Education Information page links the full statewide school list, including a separate list of schools that teach in languages other than English.

Do not look for an online version for a teen. A 2017 law (Act 343) opened the door to online or other remote classroom delivery, but only for adults in the pre-licensing course, and it specifically shut that door for anyone under 18. The state's school rules also require that at least 22.5 of the 30 classroom hours be formal instruction, and cap any school at 8 teaching hours in a single day.

Here is a typical calendar. A teen who turns 14 and 9 months in March can start class that spring. If the course and tests are done by summer, the learner's permit can follow at 15, and the intermediate license six months or more later, at 16.

Before the first class: your orientation

Schools must sit down with parents before a teen's first class. The orientation covers what the course teaches, the main reasons teens crash, the license stages and your obligation to supervise 50 practice hours.

If you cannot make it, the school can send you the material online or on paper, and you initial it for your teen's file.

The TIP: the first permit your teen gets

Any student in driver education must have a Class E Temporary Instructional Permit, called a TIP, from OMV before taking the knowledge test, starting road lessons or sitting a road skills test. It can be issued at 14 and covers driving only with a licensed school instructor, during lessons or testing.

Your teen carries the TIP to each driving lesson and initials it after every session. OMV asks parents not to let teens fill in initials ahead of time, since those initials are the proof each lesson took place.

The TIP rule has applied to every student enrolling on or after September 4, 2018. Teens who began a course earlier, or who are in the National Guard Youth Challenge Program, are exempt. Budget the license fee for the TIP trip; the later switch to a learner's permit is free.

How to choose a driving school

OMV suggests visiting the school in person, asking about its instructors and its insurance, sitting in on a class and talking with past students. Ask how the 8 hours in the car are used and whether lessons build up before highway driving begins.

Your signature on the completion certificate tells the state every hour was delivered, so do not sign until it is true. Problems with a school can be reported to OMV's Training and Certification Unit ([email protected]).

• Check the school against OMV's licensed list on its Driver's Education page
• Read the contract and the fee terms before signing
• Keep your own count of the 8 in-car hours
• Expect every classroom hour in person for a student under 18
• Ask whether the school also gives road skills tests as a third party tester

At 15: the learner's permit

At 15, a teen with a TIP and passing test results can trade up to the learner's permit. The written exam has 40 items and an 80 percent cutoff, and eyesight must reach 20/40 in one eye or better. Non-commercial knowledge tests may be taken with a translator's help.

Paperwork for a minor: a certified birth certificate, something that verifies the Social Security number, and an address document, all originals. You must sign in person as the custodial parent or legal guardian. In joint custody cases, the signature has to come from the parent the child lives with by court order (the domiciliary parent).

School attendance is part of the deal. Louisiana's attendance law, R.S. 32:431.1, says a 15 to 18 year old gets no permit or license without paperwork showing one of these: a diploma or equivalency, current enrollment and attendance at school, an equivalency course, or an approved home school. If the school board reports a dropout, or chronic absences or tardiness, OMV refuses or suspends the permit until your teen gets back on track or reaches 18.

During the permit: how long, and who rides along

Permit at 15? Then your teen needs both 180 days and a 16th birthday before the intermediate license. Permit at 16? Then it is 180 days or the 17th birthday. At 17, your teen may apply for a learner's permit or go straight for a full license.

Acceptable passengers to supervise: you or another guardian with a license, any licensed adult 21 and up, or a licensed sibling who has turned 18.

At 16: the intermediate license and its limits

The upgrade checklist: age 16, six months on the learner's permit, and 50 logged hours (15 at night) with a qualifying licensed adult. You sign for the hours; your teen then clears the eye and road tests.

Curfew runs 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.; during those hours your teen drives only with you, a guardian, a licensed adult of 21 or more, or a licensed sibling of 18 or more in the car. Evenings bring a passenger limit as well: from 6 p.m. until 5 a.m., at most one rider younger than 21 who is not immediate family, unless a licensed adult 21 or older comes along.

Phones used to have a teen-only law. In 2025, Act 288 scrapped it in favor of a hands-free rule covering every driver in the state, and tickets began January 1, 2026. Make the house rule simple: the phone stays untouched while the car moves. The Driver's Guide or OMV can tell you today's penalties.

On road test day

Where your teen road tests depends on where they took the course. Private school graduates since August 1, 2014 test with a driving school or other third party tester. High school program graduates may test at OMV, using a car you supply.

You need a score of 80 or better. For an OMV test, bring a car with current plates, a valid inspection sticker and insurance, along with its registration and insurance card. Private testers can set their own price; ask when booking. Both exams draw on the free Driver's Guide for Classes D and E, so have your teen read it.

What it costs, and the full license

The basic license costs $32.25 under age 70, per OMV's October 2026 listing. Certain field offices tack on a service charge, which OMV pages describe variously as up to $6 or up to $8. A Class E card is good until your birthday about six years out. School tuition is a separate cost each school sets.

When OMV issues any credential to a male U.S. citizen between 15 and 26, he is automatically registered with the Selective Service System.

If you are moving to Louisiana with a teen driver

Arriving with a valid learner's permit from another state that matches the Louisiana Class E? Your teen gets a Louisiana learner's permit with no written test and no driver ed proof, because a teen who already holds a permit is not treated as a first-time applicant. Age does not matter for this transfer.

You have a 30 day window after making Louisiana home, and minors need your signature plus custody documents. If your teen already has a provisional or full license elsewhere, check with OMV about where it fits in Louisiana's stages, and bring proof of school attendance, which the attendance law requires of all minors.

Ask your insurer whether finishing driver education earns a discount. Louisiana does not let you stack that discount on top of the separate defensive driving credit.