The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School will soon offer behind-the-wheel driving instruction for its students.

For the past two years, the school has employed two state-certified instructors to teach the driver’s education classroom course at no cost to students, but teenagers had to pay a private company, Vineyard Auto School, for their in-car lessons.

There will be a cost associated with the new program of driving hours. Earlier this month the school committee voted 4-3 to set a $700 tuition to cover the cost of instruction, principal Sara Dingledy told committee members at a meeting in early September.

“If people are going to extend their time, we need to find more money to support teachers who are going over contract,” Ms. Dingledy said. “Otherwise it’s going to be a challenge to sustain it, given the amount of after-school hours our licensed instructors are going to have to work.”

Last year, the high school used about $25,000 in grant money to purchase a 2024 Toyota Corolla with 308 miles on the odometer, and to equip the car with a passenger-side brake for the driving lessons.

The state of Massachusetts requires 12 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction, six hours of observing another student driver and 30 hours of classroom instruction. About 30 students, in groups of 15, take the class each semester, Ms. Dingledy said.

Committee members were split on whether or not to impose the tuition, which Ms. Dingledy said was based on what other regional school districts charge.

Scholarship funds or a sliding scale could help those for whom $700 is too much, she added.

“Sometimes people are reluctant to apply for a scholarship ... I just think it should be free,” said chair Skipper Manter, who was joined by Sarah Murphy and Kathryn Shertzer in opposing the motion.

Ms. Dingledy said Vineyard Auto School would still be an option for students.

“They do use our lot still and many families use them,” she wrote in an email to the Gazette. “We will just add more opportunity for students to gain hours.”