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Idaho · Permit test

Drivers ed in Idaho

If you’re under 17, you must pass approved driver training before you can get an Idaho license. Every course has the same three parts: classroom hours, time watching another student drive and time behind the wheel. You can take drivers ed in Idaho through a public school district, a private driving school or, under Idaho Code §49‑307, an approved online class with your parent teaching the driving. Either way, you buy a driver training permit at a county driver’s license office before the first class.

  • 21Oldest age for a public school course
  • 30 daysShortest public school course
  • 14½ yearsYoungest age to start driver training
See approved online courses

Updated October 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

Idaho drivers education requirements

Part of the courseHours
Classroom instruction30
In-car observation6
Behind-the-wheel driving6

Public school courses are open to every Idaho resident between 14½ and 21, even if they don’t attend public school. A commercial (private) school has no minimum course length and takes anyone 14½ or older.

How can you take drivers ed in Idaho?

Idaho has three kinds of approved driver training:

  • Public school: offered through school districts with the Idaho Department of Education. Ask your local high school or district
  • Private driving school: a commercial school, where you can also start at 14½
  • Parent-student on-road driver’s training: an approved online classroom course, with a qualifying parent or guardian teaching the observation and driving hours

With a school, the instructor holds your driver training permit during the course and gives it to your parent when you pass, and it becomes your supervised instruction permit (SIP).

Parent-taught driver training in Idaho

Idaho Code §49‑307 lets a parent or legal guardian teach the 6 observation hours and 6 driving hours while you take the 30 classroom hours online. The parent qualifies if they hold a valid Idaho license that allows unaccompanied driving and haven’t had a license suspended, revoked, canceled or disqualified in the past two years. More than one parent can share the teaching. The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) sets out the steps in its checklist:

  1. Buy the parent-taught training permit at the county office. Bring your birth certificate, or a marriage certificate or guardianship papers, to show how the teaching parent is related to you, plus the usual permit documents.
  2. Sign up for an approved online driver training course. Classroom hours from a course that isn’t approved don’t count.
  3. Log every driving session (date, time, location and skills practiced) on the official drive log.
  4. Take proof of the finished course and the completed log to ITD or your county office. This sets your test eligibility date.
  5. Drive your 50 supervised hours, 10 at night, over at least six months with a licensed driver 21 or older beside you.

The Idaho Department of Education’s main driver education page still says the parent option is only for rural districts or districts without a program. House Bill 628 removed that limit from the law on March 17, 2026, and the department’s own parent-student page lists the approved courses with no such limit.

Approved online classroom courses

The Idaho Department of Education lists these approved online courses for parent-taught training:

  • AAA: How to Drive
  • Idaho Home Driver Ed
  • Idaho Drive Ready
  • Idaho Online Driver Education
  • Nampa Driving Academy (Drivewise)
  • Pass Drivers Ed

The department asks course providers not on the list to email driverseducation@sde.idaho.gov to be reviewed.

After driver training, and moving from another state

Once you pass, you start the supervised instruction period. You take the knowledge and skills tests after at least six months on the SIP, at 15 or older.

If you finished driver training in another state while you lived there but weren’t licensed, bring proof of the course. If you aren’t handing in an out-of-state license, you also complete a supervised driving period before you’re licensed. At 17 or older, driver training is optional.

Idaho driving permits and the graduated license rules →Idaho driver’s license and permit fees →
Sources: Idaho Transportation Department · Idaho Legislature · Idaho Department of Education and 5 more. Checked October 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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