Homeschool Law in the United States of America: South Dakota

Parents/guardians who currently provide alternative instruction pursuant to SDCL 13-27-3 are required to file an Application for Public School Exemption Certificate (see documents) annually. 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 (under "Documents"). The completed application must then be submitted to the local public school administration office.

"South Dakota Christian Home Educators is a Christian non-profit organization dedicated to promoting private Christian home education as an outstanding educational opportunity and to protecting the God-given rights of parents to direct the education and training of their children. We are committed to fostering an accurate and favorable image of home education to the general public and to providing Christ centered events, information, resources, support, training and leadership to all member families involved in home-centered education throughout the state of South Dakota."

"The South Dakota Home School Association is an inclusive, nonprofit homeschool group serving the greater Sioux Falls area. We are a social and educational group, respectfully promoting members’ diversity, monitoring state and local legislation, and informing and empowering members on their educational paths. Our group is secular, and is non-discriminatory on the basis of race, religion, ethnic background, political orientation, or family composition. The SDHSA welcomes anyone with an interest in home education!"

Upon filing of an application with a school official from the parent or guardian of the child for the reasons set forth in § 13-27-3, the child shall be excused, without the necessity of school board action, subject to revocation thereafter as provided in this chapter. School boards of all school districts may excuse a child from public school attendance for the reasons set forth in §§ 13-27-6 and 13-27-6.1.

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.

All applications for excuse from school attendance for the reasons provided in § 13-27-3 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. A certificate of excuse shall be included as part of the application and is effective upon the filing of the application with a school official, without the necessity of school board action, subject to revocation thereafter as provided in this chapter. 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 that a child excused from school attendance pursuant to § 13-27-3 is not being instructed in compliance with § 13-27-3, the school board may immediately revoke the child's certificate of excuse.

Each public school board shall loan without charge to all persons ages five through nineteen who are either enrolled in a public school, or a nonpublic school, or who are engaged in a course of instruction pursuant to § 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. For the purposes of this chapter, textbooks are any instructional materials that constitute the principal source of teaching and learning for a given course of study including print and digital materials, but not including any computer hardware. All such textbooks shall be approved by the respective school boards.