State guide
The legal pathways, operator types, funding programs and licensing agencies South Dakota recognizes, with links to the state code and agency pages that set the rules.
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Answer below. You get a ranked list of the operator models that fit here, what each would mean for you, and what would change the answer. A ranking of fits, not a licensing determination.
Compulsory attendance
How a family satisfies compulsory attendance outside public school. Your operator type maps to one of these, and the statute linked on each card is what defines it.
Enrollment in a nonpublic (private) school satisfies compulsory attendance.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:sdlegislature.gov ↗doe.sd.gov ↗sdlegislature.gov ↗
A child is excused from compulsory public school attendance when the child is provided with alternative instruction for an equivalent period of time to public school, in the basic skills of language arts and mathematics.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:sdlegislature.gov ↗doe.sd.gov ↗hslda.org ↗mylrc.sdlegislature.gov ↗
For founders
What each type is, and who to talk to. The requirements to hold each designation are set by the statute and agency pages linked on the card; read them before you choose.
A shared-resource model where families retain full legal responsibility for their children's education under SDCL 13-27-3 (alternative instruction). You provide programming, space, and support; each family independently files their one-time Alternative Instruction Notification with SD DOE.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
SDCL 13-27 recognizes only two satisfiers: enrollment in a public or nonpublic school (13-27-1) OR alternative instruction (13-27-3). Operators targeting a solo-instructor practice should use either the Homeschool Cooperative model (alternative instruction) or open a nonaccredited private school.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:sdlegislature.gov ↗
A faith-integrated model operating as a nonpublic school under SDCL 13-27-1. If accessing the Partners in Education Tax Credit Program, accreditation is required.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Licensing thresholds depend on the number of children and provider type.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
South Dakota Department of Social Services, Child Care Services DivisionWho licenses this type
You coordinate curriculum and classroom instruction; families complete remaining instruction days at home and retain legal responsibility.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Most operators should choose Independent Private School or Homeschool Cooperative instead.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:sdlegislature.gov ↗
Check before you open
In South Dakota, childcare licensing is administered by South Dakota Department of Social Services, Child Care Services Division. The governing rules are cited as ARSD 67:42 (administered by SD Department of Social Services, Child Care Services).
Agency and rules:dss.sd.gov ↗dss.sd.gov ↗licensingregulations.acf.hhs.gov ↗
Common triggers. Not a complete list:
Childcare rules can reach school-age children as well as preschoolers, and a microschool that fits a pathway above can still fall under them. Only the agency can tell you whether your program needs a license. Ask them before you open, and confirm with your attorney.
For families
Grants and loans that aren't tied to one state, each linked to the funder's own page.
The state programs that can pay toward tuition or expenses at a program like yours. Award amounts, eligibility rules and application windows change often, so plan from the program pages, not from this summary.
SD Partners in Education is currently the only active SGO and partners with 48+ accredited private schools statewide.
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Award amounts, eligibility rules and application windows change often. Check the program pages before you plan tuition or enrollment around them.
Program pages:sdpartnersinedu.org ↗dlr.sd.gov ↗mylrc.sdlegislature.gov ↗edchoice.org ↗dlr.sd.gov ↗sdpartnersinedu.org ↗sdpartnersinedu.org ↗fna.usda.gov ↗aspe.hhs.gov ↗sdpartnersinedu.org ↗sdpartnersinedu.org ↗sdpartnersinedu.org ↗
Calendar
We don't publish filing windows or due dates. A wrong date can cost a school year. These pages set them; check them directly, and again before you file.
Beyond childcare
Situations that can bring a program under a state approval or licensing rule. Approval rules and forms change; confirm with the agency on the linked page.
SDCL 13-27-3
Amounts, dates, thresholds and licensing status are left to the linked sources.
Read the source:sdlegislature.gov ↗doe.sd.gov ↗sdlegislature.gov ↗
Legislation
Bills the South Dakota legislature passed that touch microschools, learning pods or education savings accounts, each read before it is listed. The sections above describe the law as we last verified it; a law listed here may change them.
Our search found no enacted bills on microschools, learning pods or education savings accounts in South Dakota. A search can miss things, so this is not a statement that nothing changed.
Bill data from LegiScan LLC, CC BY 4.0. Updated Sep 26, 2026. Every law listed was read before it was listed. Read the act on the legislature's site before you rely on it.
Verification
Every source this page draws on, split by who published it. Check which group a link is in, and who published it, before you rely on it.
Government-published — which is not the same as state-published. Most are this state's own code, regulations, agency and legislature pages. Others are federal, and some of those only SUMMARISE this state's rules rather than setting them; a few are city or county government. A summary of the law is not the law, and neither a federal nor a local page is a source of state obligation — so check who published any you rely on.
Private publishers reproducing this state's statute and regulation verbatim. Faithful, and often the only free full text where a state runs no official code server — but not the official record, and not maintained by anyone the state answers for. Where exact wording decides something, confirm it against the state's own publication.
News coverage, program directories, advocacy and association publications. Useful context, and listed so you can see what this page drew on — but they are not the law and they are not the state speaking. This list is not mapped claim by claim, so if a specific fact matters to a decision, confirm it against a government source rather than assuming it came from one.