An Act to direct the amendment of the Administrative Rules of South Dakota regarding the awarding of high school credit for participation in extracurricular athletics.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of South Dakota:

Section 1. No later than September 30, 2026, the South Dakota Board of Education Standards shall, pursuant to chapter 1-26, provide for and file with the secretary of state, the amendment of § 24:43:11:02, as set forth below:

24:43:11:02. General requirements for high school graduation. The units of credit number of credits required for high school graduation must include the following at least:

(1) Four units or more credits of language arts that, which must include the following:

(a) One unit credit of writing;

(b) One-half unit credit of speech or debate; and

(c) One unit credit of literature that must include one-half unit credit of American literature;

(2) Three units or more credits of social studies that, which must include the following:

(a) One unit credit of U.S. history; and

(b) One-half unit credit of U.S. government;

(3) Three units or more credits of mathematics that, which must include one unit credit of algebra I;

(4) Three units or more credits of science that, which must include one unit of biology;

(5) One unit or more credit in any combination of the following:

(a) Approved career and technical education courses;

(b) A capstone experience; and

(c) World languages;

(6) One-half unit credit of personal finance or economics;

(7) One unit credit of fine arts;

(8) One-half unit credit of physical education;

(9) One-half unit credit of health or health integration; and

(10) Five and one-half units credits of electives.

A state-approved advanced computer science course may be substituted for one unit credit of science, but may not be substituted for provided that the science course being replaced is not biology.

Within the coursework outlined above, a student may earn one or more advanced endorsement, but is not required to do so. A student may earn one or more of the following advanced endorsements: advanced, advanced career, and advanced honors. Substitutions for laboratory science, using a state-approved computer science course, do not apply to the advanced and advanced honors endorsements.

Students A If a school-sanctioned extracurricular activity aligns with the fine art content standards approved by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards, a student may must be granted up to one credit in fine arts for participation in extracurricular activities. A maximum of one-fourth credit may be granted for each extracurricular activity each school year. In order to grant credit, a district must document the alignment of the activity with A student may be granted a maximum of one-fourth credit for each extracurricular activity each school year. In order to grant credit, the The school district shall document how the extracurricular activity aligns with the fine arts content standards as approved by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards.

A If a school-sanctioned extracurricular varsity athletic activity aligns with the physical education standards approved by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards, a student may must be granted up to one-half credit in physical education for participation in school-sanctioned extracurricular varsity athletic activities. A student may be granted a maximum of one-fourth credit for each extracurricular varsity athletic activity each school year. In order to grant credit for participation in an extracurricular varsity athletic activity, the The school district shall document how the varsity athletic activity aligns with the physical education standards approved by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards.

Academic core content credit may be earned by completing an approved career and technical education course. Approval to offer credit must be obtained through an application process with the Department of Education. The application must include:

(1) Course syllabus;

(2) Standards based curriculum;

(3) Teacher certification;

(4) Assessment of standards by methods including end-of-course exams, authentic assessment, project-based learning or rubrics a copy of the teacher's certification and a course syllabus that includes assessment standards and demonstrates that curriculum is based on state content standards.

Source: 10 SDR 111, effective April 24, 1984; 11 SDR 96, 11 SDR 112, effective July 1, 1985; 16 SDR 214, effective June 12, 1990; 23 SDR 31, effective September 8, 1996; 27 SDR 75, adopted January 17, 2001; 29 SDR 140, adopted April 1, 2003; 31 SDR 129, adopted March 2, 2005, effective July 1, 2009; transferred from § 24:03:06:06.01, 31 SDR 178, adopted May 4, 2005, effective July 1, 2005; 33 SDR 55, adopted September 11, 2006, effective September 1, 2007; 33 SDR 55, adopted September 11, 2006, effective September 1, 2009; 36 SDR 96, effective December 8, 2009; 45 SDR 35, effective September 19, 2018.

General Authority: SDCL 13-1-12.1, 13-3-47.

Law Implemented: SDCL 13-3-1.4, 13-33-1, 13-33-19.