Fla. Driver's License Revocations Improve Attendance

By Jessica L. Sandham

Florida teenagers are just now feeling the sting of a 1997 state law that automatically revokes the driving privileges of students who miss too much school.

With 66 of the state's 67 school districts now sending daily-attendance updates to the state's motor-vehicles department, Florida has suspended some 5,000 driver's licenses of students who have missed at least 15 days of school in a 90-day period. The state has created records for another 24,000 minors, ages 14 through 18, who will be prevented from obtaining licenses if their poor attendance patterns continue.

Full implementation of the law was delayed while first the motor-vehicles department, and later the school districts, put in place the technology necessary to comply...