CERRO GORDO - Morgan Neissle will have her 50 hours of driving practice in long before her 16th birthday in September 2009.

"I've already got about 30 (hours) done, and I just got my permit in October," said the Cerro Gordo High School freshman. She already knows her birthday will be on a Tuesday, traditionally a very busy day because the Illinois Secretary of State's local office is closed Sundays and Mondays, but she's willing to wait in line.

With the graduated driver licensing program requiring first-time drivers to hold a permit for nine months and get 50 hours of practice driving, including 10 hours of night driving, plus 12 hours with an instructor - six driving, six observing, some students aren't as lucky as Morgan.

One of those is St. Teresa High School sophomore Samantha Dougherty.

"I have all my 50 hours in and my birthday is (Dec. 12), but since the nine-month rule, I don't get my license until (January)," she said.

Parochial school students such as Dougherty can take the classroom portion of driver's education at their own school, but have to take their behind-the-wheel training at a public school; in Dougherty's case, MacArthur High School. Arranging that can delay fulfilling requirements, but the real hang-up is that students must have a permit for a minimum of nine months.

"One of my friends, her birthday was on Nov. 4, and she gets hers the same day as I get mine," Samantha said. "She won't get hers until end of January."

She said she's OK with waiting a little longer.

Cerro Gordo High School driver's education teacher Sharon Karcher said that when the new laws went into effect in January 2008, the school started getting students into driver's education as early as possible to give them time to finish the requirements and still get their license for their birthday. Teens must be 15 to get a learner's permit.

Parents want their children to have lots of practice before applying for a license, so they're willing to put in the time to ensure that 50 hours is completed.

"The graduated license affects them and how they get their license," she said. "I am teaching during the initial phase what's expected of them, what the law will require now."

J.D. McCoy, a sophomore who will turn 16 in August, said his parents let him drive almost every time the family goes somewhere, though the recent bad weather will put a crimp in that. He said the 50-hour requirement is not too much to ask of new drivers.

"You'll just get (the permit) earlier than you did before, and you'll get more experience driving with your parents," he said. "So you're safer, and you know what you're doing."

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