Homeschooling in South Dakota

South Dakota has no start date, so alternative instruction can begin on any school day, and the 30 days for the notification count from that first day. Until the school knows, it still counts your child as enrolled, and a district must report enrolled students who stop attending to its truancy officer. Filing before your child's first day at home, and giving the school a copy, lets it close the enrollment instead of reporting absences.

What the form asks

• Your child's name and date of birth
• Your resident school district, found from your physical address on the DOE's district map
• The district your child is open-enrolled in, only if that district has already accepted the application
• Your signature, and whether your copy comes back by email or mail

A separate form is needed for each child. Mail a paper form to the DOE in Pierre or take it to your school district's main office. Whichever receives it signs it and returns a copy to you, and a district sends a copy to the DOE. Both must keep your notification confidential, and the form may not ask for more than the law lists.

Before you go, ask the school for copies of report cards, test scores, and any special education records. They are easiest to get while your child is still enrolled.

South Dakota requires no homeschool records, and no one reviews them. Keep the signed or stamped copy of your notification; it is your proof that you notified.

The DOE recommends a detailed academic record, including attendance and grades, because a transcript issued by the parent is required in several places:

• School activities, before each season
• Enrolling in public school later
• Dual credit courses
• The South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship, which checks specific high school units
• College admission and other scholarship applications

The useful set is small: the subjects and main materials for each year, a few samples of work in each subject, any test scores, and, from ninth grade on, each course with its grade and units of credit.

South Dakota requires no tests of homeschoolers. The 2021 law ended the earlier rule that alternative instruction students take a nationally standardized achievement test in grades 4, 8, and 11 and report the results. You may test whenever you think it useful, at your own expense, and the results stay with you.

Tests still come up when your child returns to public school, applies for the Opportunity Scholarship, which needs an ACT or SAT score, or takes the high school equivalency test, each explained below.

Every school district must find and evaluate children with disabilities who live in it, homeschooled children included; federal special education law calls this Child Find. You, or anyone who knows your child well, can refer your child to the resident district for an evaluation. The district must evaluate or document why an evaluation is not needed, and the DOE says that in most cases it should evaluate. If your child qualifies, the district offers a free appropriate public education (FAPE).

In South Dakota, services come with enrollment. For special education services to be provided, your child must enroll in the district, at least part time, depending on the services. If you decline enrollment, the district has nothing more to do; if your child enrolls later, the district reviews eligibility and writes an Individualized Education Program (IEP). A district that has already served full-time homeschoolers should offer the same consideration to every eligible student.

Classes and textbooks

Your resident district must admit your child to a public school part time on your request, for one or more classes, while you teach the rest. The school board must also lend, free of charge, the textbooks it gives its own students, print or digital, to a child of ages 5 through 19 in alternative instruction who lives in the district.

South Dakota's graduation requirements govern accredited schools. State law sets no graduation requirements for alternative instruction beyond the two required subjects, so you decide which courses make up high school. The law does recognize graduating from alternative instruction: the Opportunity Scholarship counts its deadlines from the school year the student graduated. The transcript you issue is the record the activities, dual credit, and scholarship laws all accept, so it should list each course by year with its grade and units.

College courses can count twice. A student in grades 9 through 12 can apply to a university or technical college as a special student, at the admission standards and tuition the college sets, and for an alternative instruction student, the person providing the instruction approves each course. An approved course earns full high school credit as well as college credit. A failing final grade ends eligibility for these courses unless the student shows good cause.

High school equivalency

A child of at least 16 may take the high school equivalency test with the written consent of a parent, guardian, or custodian.

The South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship has its own route for these students. The student must be a South Dakota resident, score at least 24 on the ACT or a comparable SAT score, and give a parent-issued transcript showing the required high school units:

• Four units of language arts, including writing, literature, and speech or debate
• Three units of social studies, including United States history and government
• Four units of math through algebra II and an advanced course
• Four units of science, three of them lab sciences
• Two units of career and technical education or world languages
• Fine arts, personal finance or economics, physical education, and health

The student must attend an accredited college with a campus in South Dakota and start within five years after the school year of graduation. Students first receiving the award on or after July 1, 2023, get $1,500 a year for three years and $3,000 for the fourth.

Juniors and seniors can also take reduced-tuition dual credit courses at public universities and technical colleges. The family pays half of a rate set at 43 percent of regular undergraduate tuition, and the state pays the other half. To enroll, update the notification the semester before your child becomes eligible, answer yes to its dual credit question, and sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the DOE; the college then applies its admission standards.

Homeschool dual enrollment in South Dakota

Your resident school district must let a child in alternative instruction take part in its athletics, fine arts, and other activities, including those sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA). The student meets the same requirements as enrolled students, including local training rules, grades and attendance reporting, and SDHSAA transfer rules, and no district can require a number of classes first.

Before each season, you give the school a transcript of the previous semester's coursework that you issued, proof of age, the SDHSAA eligibility checklist for alternative instruction students, and a physical form where needed. You also tell the school if your child becomes ineligible. A student who leaves an accredited school during the year is ineligible for the rest of that sport's current season.

Homeschool sports eligibility in South Dakota

South Dakota has no state income tax, so there is no homeschool deduction or credit to claim, and it has no education savings account. The Partners in Education tax credit program funds scholarships for tuition at accredited nonpublic schools, so it does not pay for homeschooling.

Two state benefits do reach homeschoolers. Your school district must lend you, free of charge, the textbooks it uses in its own classes, and juniors and seniors can use the reduced-tuition dual credit program described above. You pay for everything else, including any tests you choose to give.

Homeschool tax breaks and funding in South Dakota

A child can enroll in a South Dakota public school at any time, and placement follows state law. In elementary grades, the school places your child at the level shown by one or more standardized tests, and the placement can be up to one grade above where your child's age would put them, counting first grade at age 6.

In middle and high school, English and math placement rests on one or two standardized tests, and every other subject on a review of your transcript under the school board's written policy. After the first placement, the school may move your child ahead based on performance.

If you disagree with the placement, you can appeal it to the Secretary of Education. A child who wants a district other than the resident one can apply through open enrollment, and that district must accept a child in alternative instruction unless admitting the child would keep it from providing a quality program under criteria it has set.

Districts see the notifications filed for their area in the DOE's online system, so a filed notification answers most questions. A district is not responsible for truancy reports on alternative instruction students who take no public school classes.

When there is no notification

The school board warns a parent whose school-age child is not enrolled and has no notification on file that the child must attend school or receive alternative instruction. If the warning is not heeded, the board reports the parent to the district's truancy officer. Any citizen may also file a sworn truancy complaint with a circuit court judge, who then issues a warrant to bring the parent before the court. A complaint that does not show probable cause must be dismissed when the parent asks.

Failing to send a child to school or provide alternative instruction is a Class 2 misdemeanor for a first offense, punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both, and a Class 1 misdemeanor after that.