There is a driver's ed fee on top of the annual (nominal) registration fee and $300 book deposit. The driver's ed fee covers the cost of a learner's permit issued by the state, the state-issued learner driver handbook, and any other paperwork required by the state. Basically the school assembles all the necessary paperwork that parents and learner drivers would have to do if they were to go through a private driving school.
Then instead of one semester of PE, students in the 10th grade (sophomore year/second year of high school) who will be turning 16 that year do a complete driving course either in the first semester (usually nice weather to begin with but turning bad, and also dark earlier) or the second (freezing weather and wintry gloom to begin with but lovely and much brighter out at the end).
They first have to pass an eye exam and if necessary get corrective lenses, then pass a written exam based on the state handbook. If they fail that they go back to PE and will have to do private driving lessons and take their chances with the DMV written and driving test after private lessons and driving practice.
If they pass the written test they proceed to driving in the school fleet of driver's ed cars with some periods spent in the driving simulator lab and in the classroom, in the time they would normally be in PE. There are three students and one instructor in each car every day so not everyone can drive in each class period. Driving in the vicinity of the school is a hairy experience in the first month of each new semester when the students are creeping around trying not to wreck the school cars, or sometimes driving past stop signs, driving up over the curb, taking really wild turns, stalling, etc.
In the simulator and the classroom, failure to pay attention, 'bad attitude', missing classes, failure to get answers right in class and failure in the simulator will result in a driver's ed fail and placement in a PE class. There is very little that you can do in the car that will get you failed apart from complete recklessness in defiance of instructions. Everything else is considered to be part of the learning experience. DD3 drove a school car into a snow drift while making a right turn too tightly and everyone in the car missed the next class period while digging the car out. (The municipal snow ploughs tend to pile the snow up at intersections thanks to their ploughing pattern and it was a very snowy winter when she first started her driving course).
Students are supposed to have a minimum number of hours of actual instruction in a car, so absence on days you are supposed to be in a car will really hurt you - you can actually fail if you are absent more than once for an in-car lesson in my local school and you don't make up your absence (you can book a class before or after school).
Students are supposed to practice in the family vehicle too, and keep a log, with comments from the licenced driver who drives with them.
If you pass the driving test administered on the last day of your in-car schedule you practice for nine months in your family vehicle and then you and a licenced driver go to your local DMV, present your school-issued certificate, proof of ID, proof of address, and a log of your post-test driving hours (50 hours are required currently) signed by a licenced driver, and you may then be subject to a spot check by DMV or you may just get your eyesight rechecked in a machine and get your photo taken for your spanking new driver's licence that you will renew when you are 21.
DS got spot checked and passed.
Driving is considered an essential life skill in the US no matter where you live. I am in a close-in suburb of a huge city and there is decent public transport, biking lanes on the major streets, people tend to walk or ride bikes a lot, but still driving is considered essential. You never know where you might end up. Plus you might get a PT job at 16 and need some way to get there without spending a few hours on different buses.
In terms of a learning experience, driver's ed can be a really good thing because it offers immediate consequences for 'attitude' and almost no recourse to appeal in school. You can be booted out of the course and can take your chances with the DMV if you are disruptive. Most teens really, really want that licence, and it's amazing how much effort they are prepared to put into getting it.
Wheel throwing is a pottery class