Home / School Districts / Pinellas County
Serving Pinellas County

Driving Simulator Programs for Pinellas County

Pinellas County Schools runs driver education as after-school camps, about one a quarter, subject to instructor availability. That is a capacity problem, and it is the kind a simulator program can help with.

The District

What we know about Pinellas County

Pinellas County Schools is headquartered at 301 Fourth St. SW in Largo. The district runs driver education as after-school camps, normally about one per quarter and subject to instructor availability, and documented a 2025 summer program across ten high school sites with a $250 lab fee.

District purchasing records show driver education vehicles leased at scale: approximately 27 vehicles for 13 high school sites, and approximately 57 for 2024 summer sessions across ten sites. That is a real, funded program with a real fleet.

Source: district driver education page and board purchasing documents.

Please note: Academy Sim Racing does not currently have simulators installed in Florida school districts. The programs described here are services Academy offers and can deploy. Any reference to a district on this site describes an area we can serve, not an existing installation or partnership.

What Academy is, and is not. Academy Sim Racing supplies racing and driving simulators and runs staffed programs with them. We are not a licensed driving school and we do not employ state-certified driver education instructors. Nothing we provide counts toward Florida licensing requirements, the supervised driving hours a learner must complete, or any state-required driver education course. Districts should deliver those through their own certified staff or an appropriately licensed provider. What we offer is supplementary practice and hazard exposure alongside them.

The Fit

Where a simulator would actually help

Pinellas is the clearest throughput case of the six. The district has vehicles, sites and a funded program, and still delivers driver education as camps roughly once a quarter, explicitly subject to instructor availability.

That phrase is the whole story. The constraint is not money or vehicles. It is certified instructors and calendar time, and neither of those is solved by leasing more cars.

Where it would fit

  • Between camps. Students waiting for a quarterly slot have nothing in the meantime. A simulator program can run in that gap.
  • Increasing reach per instructor. One member of staff can oversee several simulators at once, which is not true of vehicles.
  • Across the sites already identified. The district has already mapped which high schools host driver education, so the rotation is defined.
  • Preparation before a camp. Students arriving at a camp having already covered basics get more from limited behind-the-wheel time.

If you fund driver education through the Dori Slosberg Act. s.318.1215 lets a county add $5 to civil traffic penalties to support driver education, and requires that programs receiving those funds devote at least 30 percent of student instruction time to behind-the-wheel training. Simulator time is not behind-the-wheel time and cannot count toward that 30 percent. We would rather say so now than have it surface during an audit.

Delivery

Three ways this could run

01

Mobile program

We bring simulators to a campus, run sessions through the day and remove everything afterwards. The simplest way for a district to trial the format.

02

Short-term placement

Equipment on site for a defined period, such as a semester or a safety initiative, supported by our staff.

03

Longer-term solutions

Where a district wants a permanent capability, that is a conversation rather than a catalog item. We are happy to have it.

Questions

What districts ask

What does Pinellas currently offer?
The district runs after-school driver education camps, normally about one per quarter and subject to instructor availability, and documented a 2025 summer program across ten high school sites with a $250 lab fee.
Do you have simulators in Pinellas schools?
No. Academy does not currently have simulators installed in any school district. This describes what we can provide.
The district already leases vehicles. Why add simulators?
Because the documented constraint is instructor availability rather than vehicles. One member of staff can oversee several simulators at once, which is not true of cars.
Could this run between camps?
That is the most obvious fit. Students waiting for a quarterly slot currently have nothing in the interim.
Does simulator time count toward the behind-the-wheel component?
No. If the program is funded under the Dori Slosberg Act, at least 30 percent of student time must be behind the wheel and simulator time does not count toward it.
How would the district start?
A single day at one of the sites already hosting driver education. The rotation is already mapped, which makes a trial straightforward.

Start a conversation about Pinellas County

Tell us the schools involved, rough student numbers and your timeframe. We will send program options and costs.

📞 Book a Session →