For many teens across Encinitas and beyond, obtaining a license is one of the most coveted milestones of adolescence. Just take a look at the SDA parking lot: students shout to peers as they turn a little too sharply onto Nardo, while others hunker in their car, music blasting just as much as the AC. It’s a one-of-a-kind mixture of laughter, revving engines, and shared teenage euphoria. 

A license reflects more than one’s social standing. For many, it represents freedom and independence, signifying a first step onto the bridge towards adulthood and opening a door to the opportunities that accompany maturity. So, what could possibly stand between a teenager and something as central to their identity as a driver’s license? 

While this rite of passage seems like an experience that no adolescent should be denied, the reality is that for many high school students at SDA and in California, this teenage dream will remain an aspiration. For students from low-income households, the cost of behind-the-wheel driving lessons, required to obtain a provisional license, is simply unaffordable. 

In the early 1990s, nearly half of sixteen-year-olds in the United States were licensed drivers. Today, that figure has plummeted to less than 25%. Public discourse on this decade-long decline often attributes blame to familiar scapegoats: phones, the rise in anxiety and depression among adolescents, and a popular perception that today’s teens would rather stay home than seek independence on the roads. While mental health and the ability to connect with peers online do play a role in this generational shift, they also distract from one crucial, often neglected factor: the high cost of getting a license. 

California law requires teens aged fifteen and a half to seventeen and a half who wish to obtain a license to complete thirty hours of driver’s education as well as six hours of behind-the-wheel instruction with a certified instructor before taking the driver’s test. Despite these lessons being mandatory, the state does not subsidize their costs with the exception of highly selective grant programs. Consequently, families must turn to private companies to provide these services for their children.

However, once a student driver turns eighteen, formal driving instruction becomes unmandated. As a result, waiting years to bypass these policies becomes an option that many economically disadvantaged adolescents are forced to choose. 

While no part of the licensing process is cheap, the expenses of behind-the-wheel instruction pose the largest obstacle for low-income families. Lesson prices vary across California, but tend to be more expensive in regions with a high cost of living. Encinitas’s cost of living is roughly double the national average.

For example, Teen Road to Safety, a popular driving school in Encinitas, charges 699 dollars for a package deal covering all six hours of required lessons. In contrast, America Driving School, a driver’s education business in San Bernardino, where the median household income is $67,000 compared to Encinitas’s $150,000, charges about $300 less for the same lesson package. 

Even though Encinitas is often recognized as an affluent community, not every community member can easily afford  the costs of required lessons. In fact, according to a U.S. News and World Report, 24% of SDA students are considered economically disadvantaged. 

More broadly, the California Department of Education finds approximately 32-60% of all California public high students are from low-income backgrounds. Those impacted by the high cost of driving lessons represent a significant proportion, and in some areas, a majority, of California’s student population.  

The state’s lack of financial support for these required lessons is not merely an inconvenience. It is a policy failure that excludes many teens from a defining coming-of-age experience and creates opportunity gaps between those who can afford to drive and those who can’t.

 This divide was not always the norm. Prior to 1990, California subsidized behind-the-wheel driver training through state-funded programs offered in public high schools. These programs were not optional or experimental; they were relied upon by over 250,000 California high school students to fulfill the requirements for both driver’s education and behind-the-wheel instruction. 

Unfortunately, this system collapsed in the wake of a state budgeting crisis in the early 1990s, when then-Governor George Deukmejian approved a 21.2 million cut to education funding for in-school driving programs. The elimination of funds pushed schools to abandon these programs as they could no longer afford the necessary vehicles, insurance, and driving instructors.               

 More than thirty years later, the reasoning behind those cuts no longer applies to California’s thriving economic climate. Since the 1990 budgeting crisis, state education funds grew substantially. In this year’s state spending proposal alone, Governor Newsom announced a $22 billion increase in funds for public education. Outlined in the proposal, a significant proportion of funds is allocated to support low-income students through various school programs, including the continuation of California Universal Meals, the free-meal program offered at SDA and across the state.  

California has demonstrated considerable investment in closing opportunity gaps in education, raising a reasonable question: if the state appears committed to providing equal opportunities for students of varying socioeconomic status, then why is a required educational expense excluded from California’s education fund spending? The state’s inaction regarding this issue is likely not due to a lack of interest, but rather a lack of awareness of its extensive impact on California citizens. 

 While the state legislature has yet to address this issue, it has not gone unnoticed. In fact, in Encinitas, a promising response to this issue has emerged. Coastline Academy, one of the largest and fastest growing driving schools in the country, has taken action to lessen the financial burdens of attaining a license placed on students at SDA. 

 Through a flagship partnership with the SDA Foundation established just over a year ago, Coastline Academy has distributed voucher codes providing free online driver education classes to SDA students. In early February, Coastline began offering students a $25 discount for behind-the-wheel instruction using the code “SDA Mustangs.” Additionally, SDA administration has selected students in need to receive full grants from Coastline, covering the expenses of both behind-the-wheel and driver’s education.  

Joseph Ongsiapco, Coastline Academy’s Operations Manager for Southern California and the architect of subsidized driving programs at SDA, shares that Coastline’s supportive efforts are rooted in the company’s “ingrained” relationship with Encinitas, stating that “we’ve always been focused on making inroads with the community and trying to help however we can.” However, Ongsiapco acknowledges that expanding Coastline’s subsidized program to other schools will be a challenge. He articulates that the cost of car insurance poses the greatest barrier to providing students with subsidized behind-the-wheel instruction, as well as schools’ reluctance to partner with private companies. Regardless of challenges, Coastline envisions broadening the impact of these subsidies in the years to come by eventually achieving full-fledged partnerships with high schools. “We’re not there yet, but we are always looking to make accessibility a priority.” 

While local initiatives, such as those led by companies like Coastline, have made a meaningful impact, without state funding, these initiatives can only go so far in addressing the financial inequities surrounding driver education and training. Until policy changes are enacted, the unaffordability of driving lessons will continue to devastate Encinitas and communities across California. 

Jessica Fuentes Perez, a sophomore at SDA, is one of the many students for whom this crucial teenage opportunity has been out of reach. The youngest of five, Fuentes Perez describes a difficult family legacy: none of her siblings received a license before the age of eighteen due to the high cost of behind-the-wheel lessons. By her own sixteenth birthday, she had not even questioned if this pattern might end for her. 

“It has made me feel like I’m less and behind in my life,” she said. “Most of my friends got theirs right after they turned sixteen. So it’s been really painful missing out on that part of growing up.” Fuentes Perez’s story demonstrates that this issue is not a minor policy hole, but one that has contributed to the normalization of unequal access to opportunity. 

So, look again at the SDA parking lot, but beyond the bliss and the excitement of newly gained independence. This time, consider those who must wait on the outside looking in, because what should be an experience accessible to everyone has quietly become another privilege reserved solely for those who can afford it.