Policy Update: South Dakota: Getting Specific

Vital Statistics
173	Public school districts
820	Public schools
141,000	K-12 enrollment
16.3%	Minority students
17%	Children in poverty
11%	Students with disabilities
$647.7 million	Annual K-12 expenditures (all revenue sources)

Districts must adopt and implement course guidelines for language arts and math that meet the state's academic-content standards by July of this year. Course guidelines for social studies and science must be adopted by July 2000.

After three years of compromises and changes, the South Dakota state school board adopted a new set of teacher-certification rules last year that goes into effect in September 2000.

The new rules broaden the eligibility basis for certification by certifying those who have not completed approved teacher education programs but who are employed by a district and are currently following an approved professional-development plan.

Also, renewal requirements for certification changed so that any combination of six semester hours or credit from any accredited postsecondary institution, including community colleges and technical institutes, may be accepted. And the new "grandfather clause" allows certifications previously issued to remain valid without meeting new requirements. This rule allows teacher education candidates additional time to complete teacher education programs that have been approved under previous standards.

In addition, after the success of a pilot academy in 1997 to train educators to become more technologically literate, the state plans to expand the program to accommodate more teachers. The four-week professional-development program, known as the Governor's Academy for Teaching and Learning, is a collaboration between the state and its universities to help teachers integrate technology into the curriculum.

The 1998-99 school year marks the first time that South Dakota has permitted open enrollment in public schools throughout the state. The law allows students to transfer between public districts at their parents' request. Although about 2,000 of the state's 141,000 students are participating, many more parents expressed interest in the program than those who actually signed up, according to state officials.

In the spring of 1998, 31,000 of South Dakota's students in grades 4, 8, and 11 took the Stanford Achievement Test-9th Edition for the first time. The students scored best in math and science and received their lowest scores in language arts.

Karon L. Schaack, the state education secretary, said in a news release that the 1998 test results would be used as the basis from which future comparisons could be made to gauge student progress. This spring, 2nd graders will be added to the Stanford-9 testing program. In addition, the education department last year continued to require that every district administer a common achievement test to assess writing skills in grades 5 and 9.

All of South Dakota's schools will be wired for new technology this spring. The "Wiring the Schools Project" uses the state's resources to wire classrooms, libraries, offices, and computer labs in each public school building. Data such as administrative records and district documents will be accessible for parents and students. The degree to which all classrooms will have Internet access will depend on how much funding districts decide to put into the project.

The legislature took a modest amount of school-related action in its 1998 session. Spending on K-12 education increased from $273.47 million in fiscal 1998 to $286.60 million in state funding for the current fiscal year, an increase of 4.8 percent. In addition, the budget allocated $2.3 million for the program to wire schools to the Internet, and lawmakers approved $450,000 for a program for at-risk youths. General fund spending increased from $3,340 per pupil last year to $3,541 for fiscal 1999. Under a new state requirement effective in July of last year, the school finance law requires a district to levy the maximum special education tax levy to qualify for state aid to special education.

The legislature's first comprehensive charter school bill failed in the spring 1998 session. Though the issue may come up again in the session that begins Jan. 12, observers say that South Dakota's emphasis on local control of schools is a likely roadblock to charter school legislation.