‘Big gray area’: SD authorities fear alternative instruction means ‘no-schooling’ for some students

Pennington County truancy officer Kim Morsching doesn’t know what kind of education alternative instruction students are receiving in her county.

South Dakota requires school-age kids to receive public, private or alternative instruction, and Morsching’s office handles truancy reports for five districts across the county to ensure compliance. The office handled more than 1,200 reports last school year.

She has never had a truancy case come across her desk for a student in alternative instruction — which includes homeschooling, hybrid schools, microschools and private schools that are either unaccredited or accredited by an entity other than the state. 

But Morsching has seen alternative instruction students come through the juvenile justice system who aren’t getting educated.

She’s asked some of those kids what a typical day looks like for them, what they’re working on, how many hours a day they spend on education, and — if they have a job — how they fit education around their work schedule. They don’t all have good answers.

Recent truancy data has led critics to suspect some families who say they’re enrolled in alternative instruction are not educating their kids. The number of truancy diversions in South Dakota, which is a program to improve school attendance for absent children, nosedived from 513 during fiscal year 2022 to 195 in 2024. The drop followed changes to state law in 2021 that made it easier to remove kids from public schools and enroll them in alternative instruction.

If parents enroll their children in alternative instruction, follow-ups on truancy reports from school districts and the court system stop for the most part.

Because of the 2021 law changes, the state Department of Education says truancy officers are only responsible for alternative instruction students when they take a class at a public school. When alternative instruction students are not enrolled in any public school classes, “the district is not responsible for making truancy reports,” the department wrote in a guide updated in September.

Since the South Dakota Legislature and Gov. Kristi Noem deregulated alternative instruction in 2021, parents now only notify their district once about their intent to alternatively educate their students, instead of every year, and the students no longer take state tests to prove their educational growth.

While some families may truly invest in educating their child once removed from a public school, there’s no way to ensure that, said First Circuit Judge David Knoff during the state Juvenile Oversight Council’s November meeting. 

“It’s not that homeschooling itself is the problem,” Knoff said. “It’s certain parents who maybe don’t have the ability or resources to effectively homeschool, and they just pull their kid out of school, which has a lot of long-term effects.”

The state Department of Education did not answer South Dakota Searchlight questions about whether the department is studying or collecting data on “no-schooling” concerns.

The Rapid City School District has 1,775 alternatively instructed students, the most in the state. The Douglas School District, which includes Ellsworth Air Force Base, has the third highest alternatively instructed student population at 616. Both are in Pennington County, where Morsching works.

Since 2021, alternative instruction in South Dakota has grown by 4,075 students. Nearly 11,500 students are enrolled in alternative instruction statewide this school year.

Public school officials interviewed for this story said that since the laws became more lax, they can only check their district’s alternative instruction roster and report any suspicions of educational neglect — which is legally defined as a form of child abuse — to the state’s Division of Child Protection Services. 

Some officials are seeking increased oversight for school districts.

Rob Monson, executive director of the School Administrators of South Dakota, said deregulation hinders efforts to educate all school-aged kids. He said it’s similar to posting speed limit signs and not having law enforcement in the area to patrol and enforce the laws. 

“As far as compulsory education, it really doesn’t exist anymore,” said Monson, who testified against the changes in 2021.

Morsching said there are families in the Rapid City area who “do a great job and don’t want state oversight,” but to assume every family is “fully invested” in their child’s alternative instruction isn’t realistic.

“While I’m grateful we’ve allowed alternative instruction, and I validate the parents doing a great job, I think we’ve created a really big gray area for oversight,” Morsching said.

What about child abuse and neglect?

If Child Protection Services receives a report of potential educational neglect in an alternative instruction setting, the office coordinates with the state Department of Education to ensure the student’s family or guardian has enrolled in alternative instruction, said a spokesperson for the state Department of Social Services in an email.

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If a report meets criteria for intervention, the spokesperson said, investigators gather information to determine if a “present danger” exists, if any additional abuse or neglect occurred, or if any further safety interventions are required.

Samantha Field, government relations director for the national nonprofit Coalition for Responsible Home Education, questioned the effectiveness of such a system, since the parents or guardians of abused and neglected children may remove their children from the public eye to avoid being reported and investigated.

Schools have professionals — teachers, principals and guidance counselors — who are trained to recognize unexplained bruises or erratic behaviors in children that may point to an abusive caregiver.

Educational mandatory reporters in South Dakota reported 3,072 instances of suspected child abuse and neglect between July 2022 and June 2023. Mandatory reporters in medical professions made the most reports at 4,028 and public safety workers made 3,877. Non-mandatory reporters made 3,238 reports in the same timeframe. The state does not collect data specifically tracking educational neglect.

It’s more difficult and burdensome to report suspected abuse and neglect for an alternative instruction child than a student in public school, said Harrisburg Superintendent Tim Graf.

Graf said he’s heard from other superintendents that reports made for alternative instruction students are handled differently, as though the reporter is being interrogated and has to prove the case before investigators follow through. School professionals often don’t have firsthand knowledge of the child to back up their concerns after issuing a report on nonpublic school students, since those children aren’t in the classroom every day.

The protocols in place to report and investigate abuse and neglect for alternative instruction students are “woefully inadequate,” Graf said, adding that he doesn’t feel such reports are investigated thoroughly. He doesn’t blame Child Protection Services workers for that though, adding that he believes the department is short-staffed and underfunded.

Monson hears from superintendents that some children are removed from public school and placed in alternative instruction without a teaching plan. One recent example was that a family removed a middle school-aged child from a public school system and planned to have a grandparent watch the child at home, Monson said.

“Not going to ‘educate’ them or ‘teach’ them: She’s going to ‘watch’ them,” Monson told South Dakota Searchlight. “That scenario is what scares us. No one is going to instruct this child. They’re taken out of the school system because they’re a problem, and they’re going to sit at home with grandma.”

Monson shared the anecdote again during a recent press conference ahead of Tuesday’s start of the 2025 legislative session. At the press conference, public education leaders explained their opposition to Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposed $4 million education savings account program, saying the state’s current lack of accountability for alternative instruction could be exacerbated by Noem’s plan if there isn’t proper oversight. The program would provide up to $3,000 of public funds per student for private school, homeschooling or alternative instruction.

“I do not understand what the homeschool people and the private school people, to a certain degree, are afraid of with accountability,” said Dianna Miller, a lobbyist for large public school districts in the state. “If they’re truly going to do what they say they’re going to do, then they should be willing to meet certain standards and they should be willing to be held accountable.”

Regulation discussions face pushback

Julie Christian, with homeschooling advocacy group FAIRSD, and Jen Beving, a homeschooling organizer and deputy state director for Americans for Prosperity-South Dakota, said current laws should be enough. 

Homeschool parents are already subjected to informal scrutiny because of their choice to alternatively educate their child, according to Beving. Protections — such as concerned people reporting to the school district or the Department of Social Services — are in place, she said.

Alternative instruction leaders like Beving and Christian are concerned that public school officials and others are using concern for “no-school” children as an opportunity to “encroach on everybody’s freedoms.” 

Specifically, they oppose standardized testing and forced home visits of homeschool families. 

“What do we believe the state’s role is in the home and with parents? Are we going to become a surveillance state where we have to see a child every day?” Beving said. 

Monson said he would be in favor of some “guardrails” being placed on alternative instruction, such as annual alternative instruction notification to school districts, mandatory reporting of assessment scores or required assessments at the local school. 

“It’s the people who are using alternative instruction as a legal dropout and aren’t educating their children that worry us,” Monson said. “Those children won’t be part of the workforce because of it. There are years and years of problems ahead for those students who aren’t being educated in some way, shape or form.”

Ideas for regulation

The Coalition for Responsible Home Education advocates for noninvasive, unburdensome policies, Field said. She spoke against South Dakota’s deregulation in 2021.

A basic level of regulation, Field said, would be requiring families to visit a professional trained to recognize abuse and neglect at least once a year — such as a required wellness checkup. Physicians are mandatory reporters like school professionals. Field added that such wellness checks could be through public health departments or with school nurses to make it more accessible and affordable for low-income families.

Stories about homeschooled children being isolated and murdered by their parents have made headlines across the country in recent years, Field said. West Virginia has had multiple high-profile child abuse and neglect cases involving homeschool students in the last year, which critics said were partially due to holes in the state’s homeschooling laws.

Studies conducted in recent years haven’t shown that homeschooled children are at a greater risk of abuse than those who attend traditional schools. But some research suggests that when abuse does occur in homeschool families, it can escalate into especially severe forms, and that some parents exploit lax home education regulation to avoid contact with social service agencies.

A minimal wellness check could deter bad actors, Field said.

“When we can say homeschool students aren’t being murdered, then we can move onto broader conversations about academic achievement,” she added.

The “gold standard” for academic achievement regulations, Field said, would require alternative instruction students to complete annual assessments, such as portfolio reviews to demonstrate developmentally appropriate progress, rather than standardized testing. The review wouldn’t be used to penalize families, but to recommend resources to improve a child’s learning.

The Legislature could mandate that the assessment be conducted by a trained professional within the state Department of Education who could recommend community resources or guidance to families if any deficiencies are identified, Field said.

Homeschooling advocates said they were motivated to push for deregulation because of what they heard from homeschooling families interested in moving to South Dakota.

They’d rather see schools and lawmakers focus on children “falling through the cracks” in public schools before focusing on a smaller number of alternative instruction families.

“I really want the conversation to start being how to increase test scores in South Dakota, have less kids committing suicide, or how to get more kids reading, graduating and job-ready,” Beving said. “We graduate almost every single kid from public school in this state, which isn’t the reality of where these kids are academically or workforce-ready.”

Field said there are problems in public schools, but the state is aware of them.

“You can only address problems if you know they exist,” Field said, “and the fact of the matter is we don’t know what problems are in the homeschool population or how to address them.”