It has devolved into a pay for play scheme. I cut a check for a few hundred dollars and you stamp the form saying my kid can drive. You can also take the on the road driving course through your public school at no cost but the wait for that can be extremely long. Most people in my area just pay. A parent does also have to sign the form stating the kid has completed a certain number of hours driving under a certain mix of conditions with them. I think it is a total of 45 or 50 hours.

Over the last 15 years Virginia has tried to move as many DMV processes as possible to online and closed many DMV locations to save money. The elimination of the road test for most new drivers was part of this effort.