Source: http://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/Codified_Laws/DisplayStatute.aspx?Type=StatuteChapter&Statute=13-27
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 14:54:38+00:00

Document:
13-27-1. Responsibility of person controlling child for school attendance--High school equivalency test preparation program--Kindergarten--Transfer from another state. Any person having control of a child, who is not younger than five or older than six years old by the first day of September, or any child who, by the first day of September, is at least six years old, but who has not exceeded the age of eighteen, shall cause the child to regularly attend some public or nonpublic school for the entire term during which the public school in the district in which the person resides, or the school to which the child is assigned to attend, is in session, until the child reaches the age of eighteen years, unless the child has graduated or is excused as provided in this chapter. However, the requirements of this section are met if a child who is at least sixteen years of age enrolls in a high school equivalency test preparation program that is school-based or for which a school contracts and the child successfully completes the test or reaches the age of eighteen years.
(5) Verification that the child is enrolled in Job Corps as authorized by Title I-C of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, as amended to January 1, 2009.
Any child who is sixteen or seventeen years of age and who completes the high school equivalency test preparation program may take a high school equivalency test immediately following release from the school program or when ordered to take the test by a court. Any such child who fails to successfully complete the test shall re-enroll in the school district and may continue the high school equivalency preparation program or other suitable program as determined by the school district.
All children shall attend kindergarten prior to age seven. Any child who transfers from another state may proceed in a continuous educational program without interruption if the child has not previously attended kindergarten.
Source: SDC 1939, § 15.3201; SL 1941, ch 65; SL 1955, ch 41, ch 15, § 1; SL 1975, ch 128, § 169; SL 1978, ch 111; SL 1985, ch 129, § 7; SL 1986, ch 122, §§ 1, 9; SL 1990, ch 126, § 1; SL 1991, ch 142, § 2; SL 1996, ch 114, §3; SL 2006, ch 80, § 1; SL 2007, ch 98, § 1; SL 2009, ch 83, § 1; SL 2009, ch 83, § 3, eff. July 1, 2010; SL 2017, ch 77, § 1.
(2) The recognized church or religious denomination either individually or in cooperation with another recognized church or religious denomination provides a regularly supervised program of instruction in which each child participates in learning activities appropriate to the adult occupation that the child is likely to assume in later years.
Source: SL 1990, ch 126, § 2.
13-27-1.2. Promulgation of rules on high school equivalency testing. The Department of Education may promulgate rules, pursuant to chapter 1-26, to establish high school equivalency testing procedures for children who take the test pursuant to § 13-27-1.
Source: SL 2009, ch 83, § 5; SL 2017, ch 77, § 2.
13-27-3.3. Report to district school board of children for whom birth certificate not furnished--Board to notify state's attorney. The superintendent of any public or nonpublic school or any person who provides alternative instruction in this state who maintains a child's permanent cumulative school record shall within thirty days of enrollment report to the school board of the district the name and address of any child whose permanent cumulative record does not have a copy of a certified birth certificate in violation of § 13-27-3.1 or 13-27-3.2. If the violation is not corrected within thirty days after the report, the school board of the district shall notify the state's attorney.
Source: SL 1988, ch 142, § 3; SL 2000, ch 81, § 3.
13-27-7. Notification for excuse from attendance--Certificate of excuse--Revocation. Each notification 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 notification and is effective upon the filing of the notification 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.
Any test score required by § 13-27-3 shall be kept on file in the public school of the district where the child has school residence as defined in § 13-28-9. If subsequent achievement test results reveal less than satisfactory academic progress in the child's level of achievement, the school board may refuse to renew the child's certificate of excuse.
Source: SDC 1939, § 15.3202; SL 1955, ch 41, ch 15, § 2; SL 1971, ch 116, § 3; SL 1981, ch 141, § 3; SL 1983, ch 131, § 1; SL 1991, ch 20, §§ 17, 18; SL 1992, ch 128, § 2; SL 2003, ch 272 (Ex. Ord. 03-1), § 63; SL 2012, ch 98, § 1; SL 2017, ch 78, § 3.
13-27-9. Record of certificates of excuse from attendance--Copies to secretary and place of instruction. A permanent record of all certificates of excuse shall be kept in some safe place as determined by the school board. Any certificate of excuse of a pupil receiving alternative instruction pursuant to § 13-27-3 is confidential. Copies of any certificate of excuse shall be forwarded to the secretary of the Department of Education. Copies of any certificates of excuse shall also be forwarded to the place where the child is instructed. The copies shall be forwarded within thirty days of issuance.
Source: SDC 1939, § 15.3202; SL 1955, ch 41, ch 15, § 2; SL 1971, ch 116, § 5; SL 1975, ch 128, § 173; SL 1983, ch 131, § 4; SL 1991, ch 20, §§ 17, 18; SL 1995, ch 97, § 2; SL 2003, ch 272 (Ex. Ord. 03-1), § 63; SL 2012, ch 98, § 2.
13-27-12. Repealed by SL 2015, ch 82, § 18.
13-27-15. Attendance records maintained by superintendent or president of board--Reports required. Each superintendent, or the president of the school board in districts without a superintendent, is responsible for maintaining an accurate record of the attendance of all persons of compulsory school age. He shall, at regular intervals, report the names of all compulsory school age persons, not excused from school, who do not or who irregularly attend an accredited school to the truancy officer on blanks provided for that purpose. He shall include reasons for the absences in the report.
Source: SDC 1939, § 15.3203; SL 1955, ch 41, ch 15, § 3; SL 1971, ch 116, § 8; SL 1975, ch 128, § 175; SL 1982, ch 142, § 5.
13-27-16. Warnings by school boards to send children to school--Report to truancy officer. Each school board shall warn parents or persons in control of children of compulsory school age that the children must enter school and attend regularly, and shall report the parents or persons in control of the children to the truancy officer for the district if the warning is not heeded. All school board members, superintendents, and teachers shall cooperate in the enforcement of the school attendance laws.
Source: SDC 1939, § 15.3203; SL 1955, ch 41, ch 15, § 3; SL 1975, ch 128, § 176; SL 1982, ch 142, § 6.
13-27-17. Investigations and records of truancy officer. Each truancy officer shall carefully check the attendance and nonattendance of all persons required by law to attend school in the district or districts within his jurisdiction and shall keep an accurate record of those persons not in attendance or whose attendance is irregular.
Source: SDC 1939, § 15.3205; SL 1955, ch 41, ch 15, § 5; SL 1971, ch 116, § 9.
13-27-19. Power of truancy officers to apprehend truant children--Supervisory control by secretary. Each truancy officer has the powers of a deputy sheriff in the exercise of his duties, and shall apprehend without warrant children of compulsory school age who absent themselves from the place where the children are required to attend without an excuse, and place the children in the custody of the person having charge of the place where the children are by law required to attend. In the administration of his duties, each truancy officer is subject to the general supervisory control of the secretary of the Department of Education.
Source: SDC 1939, § 15.3205; SL 1955, ch 41, ch 15, § 5; SL 1971, ch 116, § 11; SL 1982, ch 142, § 8; SL 2003, ch 272, § 63.
13-27-28. Disobedience of circuit court order as contempt. Any parent, guardian, or person in charge of a child, who refuses or neglects to obey any order of a circuit judge made as provided in this chapter, is, in addition to the penal provisions of § 13-27-11, guilty of contempt of court.
Source: SDC 1939, § 55.4204; SL 1975, ch 128, § 184; SL 1982, ch 142, § 12.
13-27-29. Placement of child who has attended unaccredited school or alternative program--Appeal. If a child of compulsory school age has been attending an unaccredited school in another state or country or has been receiving alternative instruction pursuant to § 13-27-3 enrolls in a public school in this state, the child shall be placed at the child's demonstrated level of proficiency as established by one or more standardized tests. However, a child's placement may not be in a grade level higher than warranted by the child's chronological age assuming entry into the first grade at age six and annual grade advancement thereafter. After initial placement the child may be advanced according to his demonstrated performance. If a child of secondary school age has been attending an unaccredited school in another state or country or has been receiving alternative instruction pursuant to § 13-27-3 enrolls in a public school in this state, the child shall be placed in English and math at the level of achievement demonstrated by one or two standardized tests, and in all other subjects on a review of transcripts according to the policy formally adopted by the school board. The child's placement may not be in a grade level higher than warranted by the child's chronological age assuming entry into the first grade at age six and annual grade advancement thereafter. After initial placement the child may be advanced according to his demonstrated performance. Any parent or guardian who is dissatisfied with the secondary placement of his child may appeal it to the secretary of the Department of Education.
Source: SL 1983, ch 131, § 3; SL 1991, ch 20, §§ 17, 18; SL 2003, ch 272, § 63.

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