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South Dakota Education Code For Homeschooling
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This is not intended to be legal advice and is distributed for information purposes only. Check for updates at the State of South Dakota Department of Education Home School page, where the following information originated.

Bill would give ND home school teachers less monitoring
March 23, 2011. "Monitoring has done nothing to ensure quality education," said James Bartlett, the Home School Association's director. "It's a totally unnecessary interruption to the family and interruption to the state. This bill doesn't get totally get rid of it, but hopefully someday it will be removed completely." The House approved the bill earlier on a 75-19 vote. It is HB1211.


Parent Responsibilities

  1. Complete the form requesting exemption from public school attendance (13-27-2)
    1. Required only up to age 16 (compulsory attendance requirement)
    2. Return the completed from to the school district for school board approval
  2. May not instruct more than 22 students (13-27-3)
  3. No requirement to be certified (13-27-3)
  4. Must test in grades two, four, eight, and eleven (13-27-3)
    1. Test may be monitored by local school district
    2. SAT10 test provided by the Department of Education (not the Dakota STEP test) at no cost
    3. If another test is chosen, it is at the expense of the home school
    4. Results must be sent to the local school district


The statutes listed below will provide information regarding alternative instruction in South Dakota:

SDCL 13-27-1 -- Ages of Compulsory Attendance

SDCL 13-27-2 -- Attendance Excused by School Board

SDCL 13-27-3 -- Provider for Alternative Instruction Attendance Excused by School Board

SDCL 13-27-3.1 -- Law that Requests Birth Certificate

SDCL 13-27-3.2 -- Maintenance of Birth Certificates

SDCL 13-27-3.3 -- Report to State's Attorney of Children for whom Birth Certificate not Furnished

SDCL 13-27-3.4 -- Certified Copy of Birth Certificate to be Provided to Certain Persons at No Cost

SDCL 13-27-7 -- Applications for Excuse From Attendance

SDCL 13-27-9 -- Certificates of Excuse Copies Maintained

SDCL 13-27-20 -- Verification of Contents of Complaint

SDCL 13-27-29 -- Placement in an Accredited School from an Unaccredited Program

SDCL 13-34-23 -- Loan of Textbooks

SDCL 13-36-4 - High School Interscholastic Activities Association-Qualifications-Power & Authority

Questions regarding alternative instruction can be directed to Dean J. Buchanan, Office of Policy & Accountability, (605) 773-3553, dean.buchanan@state.sd.us or your local public school district.

Home Schooling
Parents/guardians who currently provide alternative instruction pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 are required to file an Application for Public School Exemption Certificate annually. Beginning with the 2005-2006 school year, the exemption applications will no longer be mailed out to parents/guardians. Therefore, the application must be obtained here, from the local school district, or directly from the Department of Education. The completed application must be filed with the superintendent of schools in the public school district in which the parent /guardian resides.

Parents/guardians who wish to begin providing alternative instruction pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 must also complete an Application for Public School Exemption Certificate. The completed application must then be submitted to the local public school administration office.

Application for Public School Exemption Certificate form


The Law and Alternative Instruction Programs

The South Dakota Codified Laws summarized below are provided for your review and understanding. The laws have been printed here exactly as they appear in a law text.

The Law and Alternative Instruction Programs

The South Dakota Codified Laws summarized below are provided for your review and understanding. The laws have been printed here exactly as they appear in a law text.

SDCL 13-27-1. Responsibility of person controlling child - Ages of compulsory attendance - Entire school term - Waiver. Every person having under his control a child who is six years old by the first day of September and who has not exceeded the age of sixteen, shall cause the child to regularly and annually attend some public or nonpublic school for the entire term during which the public school in the district in which the person resides, or the school to which the child is assigned to attend, is in session, until the child reaches the age of sixteen years, unless excused as provided in this chapter.

Any child under age six enrolled in any elementary school or kindergarten program is subject to the compulsory attendance statutes of this state. A waiver of the compulsory attendance requirement for children under the age of seven years of age shall be granted by the school district upon the request of the parents.

SDCL 13-27-2. Attendance excused by school board. Upon receipt of an application from the parent or guardian of the child for the reasons set forth in SDCL 13-27-3, school boards of all school districts shall excuse a child from school attendance in executive session using a case number. School boards of all school districts may excuse a child from public school attendance for the reasons set forth in SDCL 13-27-6 and SDCL 13-27-6.1.

SDCL 13-27-3. Child excused if provided alternative instruction - Application - Investigation - Revocation - Restrictions - Testing. A child shall be excused from school attendance, pursuant to SDCL 13-27-2, because the child is otherwise provided with alternative instruction for an equivalent period of time, as in the public schools, in the basic skills of language arts and mathematics. The parent or guardian of the child shall identify in the application the place where the child will be instructed and any individual who will instruct the child. The individuals are not required to be certified. The secretary of the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs may investigate and determine whether the instruction is being provided. Failure to provide instruction is grounds for the school board, upon thirty days notice, to revoke the excuse from school attendance. The secretary of the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs may inspect the records of an alternative education program with fourteen days written notice if the secretary has probable cause to believe the program is not in compliance with this section. The records to be inspected are limited to attendance and evidence showing academic progress.

No individual may instruct more than twenty-two children. All instructions shall be given so as to lead to a mastery of the English language. Children receiving alternative instruction who are in grades tested under the state testing program shall take a nationally standardized achievement test of the basic skills. The test may be the test provided by the state and used in the public school district where the child is instructed or another nationally standardized achievement test chosen by and provided at the expense of the child's parent, guardian, or school giving alternative instruction. The test may be monitored by the local school district where the child is instructed.

SDCL 13-27-3.1. Birth certificate or affidavit to be submitted - Violation as misdemeanor. Any person who is required pursuant to SDCL 13-27-1 to cause any child to attend any public or nonpublic school or alternative instruction program pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 in this state shall, either at the time of enrollment in any school in this state or upon being excused from school attendance pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 or within thirty days of initial enrollment or excuse, provide the public or nonpublic school or the alternative instruction program with a certified copy of the child's birth certificate or affidavit in lieu of birth certificate as issued by the Department of Health in such cases where the original birth certificate is deemed unattainable. Any parent or guardian who requests an excuse for his or her child pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3, shall with the initial request for excuse, provide a certified copy of the child's birth certificate or an affidavit notarized or witnessed by two or more witnesses, swearing or affirming that the child identified on the request for excuse is the same person appearing on the child's certified birth certificate. A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor.

SDCL 13-27-3.2. Maintenance of birth certificate by school as permanent record. Any copy of a certified birth certificate provided pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3.1 shall be maintained by the public or nonpublic school or alternative instruction program and shall become a part of the child's permanent cumulative school record.

SDCL 13-27-3.3. Report to state's attorney of children for whom birth certificate not furnished. The superintendent of any public or nonpublic school or any person who provides alternative instruction in this state who maintains a child's permanent cumulative school record shall within thirty days of enrollment report to the school board of the district the name and address of any child whose permanent cumulative record does not have a copy of a certified birth certificate in violation of SDCL 13-27-3.1 or 13-27-3.2. If the violation is not corrected within thirty days after the report, the school board of the district shall notify the state's attorney.

SDCL 13-27-3.4. Certified copy of birth certificate to be provided to certain persons at no cost. Notwithstanding SDCL 34-25-52, the Department of Health or the local registrar of Vital Records shall provide a certified copy of any child's birth certificate at no cost if the person requesting the certificate pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3.1 is eligible to receive aid to dependent children under Chapter 28-7, food stamps under Chapter 28-12 or county poor relief under Chapter 28-13.

SDCL 13-27-7. Applications for excuse from attendance - Certificate issued by board president - Revocation - Grounds. All applications for excuse from school attendance shall be on a standard form acknowledged before a notary or two witnesses. The form shall be provided by the secretary of the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs. If the application is granted, a certificate of excuse also provided by the secretary of the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs shall be issued by the president of the school board having jurisdiction over the district in which the child has school residence. The certificate of excuse shall be for a period not to exceed one year and shall state the reason for the excuse is that the child will receive alternative instruction. Upon a showing by the secretary of the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs that a child excused from school attendance pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 is not being instructed in compliance with SDCL 13-27-3, the school board may immediately revoke the child's certificate of excuse.

All test scores required by SDCL 13-27-3 shall be kept on file in the public school of the district where the child has school residence. If subsequent achievement test results reveal less than satisfactory academic progress in the child's level of achievement, the school board may refuse to renew the child's certificate of excuse.

SDCL 13-27-9. Record of certificates and excuses from attendance - Copies to secretary and place of instruction. A permanent record of all certificates of excuse shall be kept in some safe place as determined by the school board. Any certificate of excuse of a pupil receiving alternative instruction pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 shall be kept confidential after approval of the school board pursuant to SDCL 13-27-2. Copies of any certificate of excuse shall be forwarded to the secretary of the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs. Copies of any certificates of excuse shall also be forwarded to the place where the child is instructed. The copies shall be forwarded within thirty days of issuance.

SDCL 13-27-20. Complaints against person responsible for truancy - Contents of complaint - Verification. Each truancy officer shall make and file truancy complaints, and any teacher, school officer, or any citizen may make and file a truancy complaint, before a circuit court judge, against any person having control of a child of compulsory school age who is not attending school or whose attendance is irregular. The complaint shall state the name of the parent, guardian or person responsible for the control of the child. The complaint shall be verified by oath upon belief of the complainant.

SDCL 13-27-29. Placement of child who has attended unaccredited school or alternative program - Appeal. If a child of compulsory school age has been attending an unaccredited school in another state or country or has been receiving alternative instruction pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 enrolls in a public school in this state, the child shall be placed at the child's demonstrated level of proficiency as established by one or more standardized tests. However, a child's placement may not be in a grade level higher than warranted by the child's chronological age assuming entry into the first grade at age six and annual grade advancement thereafter. After initial placement the child may be advanced according to his demonstrated performance. If a child of secondary school age has been attending an unaccredited school in another state or country or has been receiving alternative instruction pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 enrolls in a public school in this state, the child shall be placed in English and math at the level of achievement demonstrated by one or two standardized tests, and in all other subjects on a review of transcripts according to the policy formally adopted by the school board. The child's placement may not be in a grade level higher than warranted by the child's chronological age assuming entry into the first grade at age six and annual grade advancement thereafter. After initial placement the child may be advanced according to his demonstrated performance. Any parent or guardian who is dissatisfied with the secondary placement of his child may appeal it to the secretary of the Department of Education and Cultural Affairs.

SDCL 13-34-23. Loan of textbooks. Each public school board shall loan without charge to all persons ages five through nineteen who are either enrolled in a public school, or in a school supervised in accord with Chapter 13-4, or who are engaged in a course of instruction pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3, within the school district under such board's jurisdiction or who are residing in such district but are not enrolled in any such school or engaged in any such course of instruction, such nonsectarian textbooks designed for individual use as are normally furnished by such school board to individual students enrolled in the public schools of the district under such board's jurisdiction. All such textbooks shall be approved by the respective school boards.

SDCL 13-36-4 - High School Interscholastic Activities Association-Qualifications-Power & Authority
The school board of a public or the governing body of a nonpublic school, approved and accredited by the secretary of the Department of Education, may delegate, on a year to year basis, the control, supervision, and regulation of any high school interscholastic activities to any association which is voluntary and nonprofit if membership in such association is open to all high schools approved and accredited by the secretary of the Department of Education, including any school that allows participation by students receiving alternative instruction as set forth in § 13-27-3, pursuant to the provisions of this title, and if the constitution, bylaws, and rules of the association are subject to ratification by the school boards of the member public school districts and the governing boards of the member nonpublic schools and include a provision for a proper review procedure and review board.
     Any association which complies with this section may exercise the control, supervision, and regulation of interscholastic activities, including interscholastic athletic events of member schools. Such association may promulgate reasonable uniform rules, to make decisions and to provide and enforce reasonable penalties for the violation of such rules.


Home School
Parents/guardians who currently provide alternative instruction pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 are required to file an Application for Public School Exemption Certificate annually.

Return to South Dakota Homeschooling

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