SDCL 13-27-3 Alternative Instruction: What South Dakota Homeschoolers Need to Know

South Dakota Codified Law §13-27-3 is the statute that makes alternative instruction — and by extension, micro-schools and learning pods — legal in the state. If you are homeschooling, co-oping with other families, or thinking about launching a pod, this is the law you are operating under. Most families have read a summary of it somewhere. Few have read the full implications.

Here is what it actually says and what it means for your family or group.

What SDCL §13-27-3 Says

The statute excuses children from compulsory public school attendance when they receive alternative instruction in the basic skills of language arts and mathematics. The key provisions:

No certification required. The person providing instruction does not need to hold a South Dakota teaching certificate. You can hire a retired teacher, a college-educated parent, a subject-matter expert, or a community member with relevant skills. The state does not screen or approve facilitators.

No standardized testing. South Dakota removed mandatory annual testing for alternative instruction students in 2021. There is no state-required assessment — no ACT, no standardized test, no portfolio review submitted to the state.

No annual reporting. Alternative instruction families file a one-time notification, not a recurring report. You do not submit grade reports or attendance records to the state.

22-student limit. This is the most operationally important provision. No individual alternative instructor may teach more than 22 students simultaneously. This hard cap exists to prevent alternative instruction from becoming an unlicensed private school in disguise.

Language of instruction. The only pedagogical mandate in the statute is that instruction must aim toward mastery of the English language. You can teach in any subject, using any curriculum, in any order — as long as English language arts and mathematics are addressed.

The 22-Student Limit in Practice

For a family of two or three children, this rule is irrelevant. For anyone building a co-op or micro-school, it is the most important legal constraint you face.

The limit applies per instructor, not per program. A co-op with 30 students and one instructor is out of compliance. The same 30-student co-op with two instructors — each responsible for 15 students — is fully legal.

Legal ways to exceed 22 students:

1. Add instructors. Each facilitator independently provides alternative instruction to their assigned group of students, each filing the appropriate notification. Two instructors can legally serve up to 44 students. Three can serve up to 66.

2. Formally establish a private school. Private schools in South Dakota are not subject to the 22-student cap, but they operate under a different regulatory framework, and accredited private schools must comply with SD Department of Education accreditation standards.

The 22-student cap is why South Dakota micro-schools typically stay small (under 15 students) or formalize into private school structures when they scale. There is no gray area here — it is a statutory limit.

The Three Frameworks: Alternative Instruction, Private School, and Excused Absence

South Dakota has three distinct legal mechanisms that let children avoid public school attendance:

SDCL §13-27-3 (Alternative Instruction): The primary vehicle for homeschooling and micro-schools. Families file a one-time notification. No certification, no testing, no annual reporting. Facilitator capped at 22 students.

SDCL §13-27-2 (Excused Absence): Allows a school board to excuse a child from attendance for specific reasons — illness, state youth programs, or other circumstances. This is not designed for permanent alternative education and is not the mechanism families use to homeschool.

Private School Establishment: A recognized private school must comply with SD DOE standards. Accredited private schools can access the Partners in Education scholarship funds (averaging $2,457 per student under the 2026 SB 84 expansion). Unaccredited private schools do not face the 22-student cap but cannot access scholarship money either.

Private School Requirements in South Dakota

If you are considering formalizing your micro-school as a private school rather than operating as alternative instruction, here is what that involves:

Unaccredited private school: You register with the SD DOE, you are not subject to the 22-student cap, but you receive no government funding and no scholarship eligibility. This is the lightest formal private school classification.

Accredited private school: You undergo SD DOE accreditation review, which involves curriculum standards alignment, facility inspections, and teacher credentialing review. In exchange, your school becomes a "qualifying school" eligible to accept Partners in Education scholarship funds. The income eligibility threshold for these scholarships was expanded in 2026 to 200% of the federal free- and reduced-price lunch limit for new applicants.

The accreditation pathway makes sense for micro-schools that want to grow significantly, employ professional staff, and access scholarship funding. For small family pods (3-8 families), the alternative instruction framework under SDCL §13-27-3 remains simpler and more operationally flexible.

What the Legislative Environment Means for You

South Dakota's regulatory environment has been in flux. The 2021 legislative session dramatically deregulated alternative instruction — removing annual testing requirements and shifting to a one-time notification system. But recent sessions have seen pushback.

During the 2025 and 2026 sessions, legislators introduced:

• House Bill 1158: Would have mandated state assessments for alternative instruction students
• House Bill 1152: Aimed to reinstate annual notification requirements
• Senate Bill 134: Proposed additional oversight of educational rulemaking

Neither testing bill passed. The one-time notification system remains in place. But the legislative pressure signals that South Dakota's permissive framework is not guaranteed to stay as it is. Families and pod founders should stay current on legislative developments through FAIRSD's bill tracking alerts.

Notification Mechanics Under SDCL §13-27-3

Filing the Alternative Instruction Notification is straightforward:

• File within 30 days of beginning alternative instruction
• File with the SD Department of Education online portal or with your local public school district
• Each family files independently for their own children — there is no group registration
• The notification is one-time, not annual, unless you move to a new school district (in which case you re-file within 30 days of beginning in the new district)

Keep a copy of your confirmed filing. In the rare event of a truancy inquiry from a school district, this document establishes your legal compliance.

SDCL §13-27-3 and Your Micro-School

If you are building a learning pod or micro-school in South Dakota, this statute is the legal foundation for everything. It determines who can teach, how many students are permitted, what subjects must be covered, and what paperwork each family must file.

The South Dakota Micro-School & Pod Kit translates SDCL §13-27-3 into operational tools: compliance checklists, multi-family notification tracking, and legal frameworks for scaling your pod past 22 students without triggering regulatory attention. It also covers the practical questions the statute does not answer — insurance, zoning, facilitator vetting, and cost-sharing structures — so your pod is legally sound from day one.

Understanding the law is the first step. Building compliant operations on top of it is the work.

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