Garrett wants changes to private driving schools

SPRINGFIELD — A suburban lawmaker wants instructors at private driving schools to get the same amount of training as public school driver’s ed teachers get.

But questions about cost and what the standards should be continue to bog the plan down as it heads for a possible vote in the Illinois Senate.

The proposal, sponsored by Lake Forest Democratic Sen. Susan Garrett, was approved by a Senate committee 6-4 Tuesday.

“We want to make sure our teen driving instructions ... is uniform and in sync,” she said.

But Paul Zalatoris, CEO of the Top Driver Driving School in Northbrook, said he saw little reason for driving schools to change.

“Our standards are more than adequate, and we feel no reason why we need to be put together to adopt new standards,” Zalatoris said.

Kristina Hestrom, of the Illinois Commercial Driving School Association, echoed Zalatoris’ sentiments.

“With our outstanding records ... why in the world would we want to change?”

The proposal would make several other changes to driver’s education, including having the State Board of Education and the Secretary of State’s office adopt standards for driver’s education and requiring state inspections for any vehicles more than five years old or with more than 75,000 miles.

Aside from their instructors having to get costly training, one of the biggest concerns for commercial driving schools is a requirement for them to release the names and personal information of their instructors to the state if they are hired by public schools to teach their students.

Sen. Kyle McCarter, a Lebanon Republican, said this was especially appalling after a report from the Secretary of State’s office showed student fatalities were higher among teenagers who took public school driving classes, compared to those taught by a private instructor.

“We found the problem here, and it’s the public schools,” McCarter said.

But a majority of lawmakers on the panel agreed to vote with Garrett, who said she just wants all Illinois teenagers to go through the same driving curriculum.

“This is not meant to be threatening, it’s meant to not have a two-tier approach when we’re teaching our teens how to drive,” Garrett said.