South Dakota

South Dakota Dept of Education Homeschooling

• Application for Public School Exemption Certificate | PDF
• South Dakota Codified Laws
• Parent Responsibilities
• School District Responsibilities
• Department of Education Responsibilities

Laws that relate to homeschooling:

• 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 Certificates
• 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 13-36-4 - High School Interscholastic Activities Association-Qualifications-Power & Authority
• 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 13-36-7 - Participation in Interscholastic Activities

13-27-3.   Child excused if provided alternative instruction--Application--Investigation-- Revocation--Restrictions--Testing. A child shall be excused from school attendance, pursuant to § 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 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 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 two, four, eight, and eleven 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.