Flexibility fuels surge in alternative schooling, while critics point to lack of accountability

Drew Dittmer and his wife tried homeschooling their children in 2015.

The family of six in Sioux Falls enjoyed the freedom and flexibility it allowed them. But after welcoming their fifth child, the couple sent their children back to public school to avoid being overwhelmed at home.

In 2020, a kind of homeschooling was thrust on the Dittmers again: remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Seeing the work they were getting from school a little bit more up close because we were so involved, we recognized we could give them a better all-around education than what they were getting in school,” Dittmer said.

The Dittmer children are part of a trend. Alternative instruction nearly tripled in South Dakota over the last decade from 3,933 students in 2014 to 11,489 — now making up about 7% of school-age children in the state, according to the state Department of Education. That includes homeschooling and private schools — online, hybrid and microschools — that are unaccredited, or accredited by an entity other than the state.

The state’s 94% increase in alternative students during the past five years is the third-fastest growth rate in the nation, following Washington, D.C., (108%) and New York (103%). 

The growth could accelerate in South Dakota if lawmakers adopt a new proposal by Republican Gov. Kristi Noem to create education savings accounts. The $4 million program would provide about $3,000 per student annually to pay for a portion of private school tuition or curriculum for alternative instruction. Legislators will begin considering the proposal when they convene for their annual lawmaking session on Tuesday.

South Dakota Searchlight connected through an online survey and interviews with more than 100 parents who’ve chosen alternative instruction for their children. They most commonly said they chose this path because:

• They are concerned about problems in school environments, such as bullying, anxiety and safety.
• They don’t think the traditional system meets their children’s learning styles.
• They can incorporate religious or cultural teachings, travel or occupational pursuits.

They also pointed to the long bus ride for children attending rural schools taking up too much of their day, and the increasing ease of pursuing nontraditional education with new technology.

Deregulation and accountability concerns

Alternative instruction was increasing in South Dakota even before the pandemic, which accelerated the trend, said state Department of Education Secretary Joseph Graves.

“Parents need access to more opportunities for children when they are not finding success at school,” Graves said in an emailed statement. “Currently, the decision to pursue alternative instruction is in the hands of parents, whom we rely on to make the best decisions for their children.”

The largest spike in enrollment was in 2022, a year after the state removed regulations on alternative instruction and made it easier to enroll.

Students are no longer required to take standardized tests. Parents don’t need to disclose their reasons for choosing alternative instruction, and rather than enrolling yearly with their district, families now only alert the state once.

Local school boards lost the authority to deny or revoke a student’s request to opt out of public school attendance. Public school districts were also required to allow alternative students to play school-sponsored sports. 

Critics say the decreased oversight could shield potential child abuse and neglect. Caregivers can skirt the state’s compulsory education laws, and protocols in place to protect children are “woefully inadequate,” said Harrisburg Superintendent Tim Graf.

“I know the people who homeschool and want to do a good job — and are doing a good job — don’t want to be lumped in with the second group,” Graf said. “At the same time, without some level of accountability, I don’t know how you can separate the two.”

Graf raised his concerns when he testified against the weakened regulations in 2021. Although he said the prior regulations weren’t perfect, he “would take them back in a heartbeat.”

“Right now, we just have nothing. So anything we could do for more accountability would be an improvement,” Graf said.

The removal of children from public education also pulls state funding from public schools, because it’s based primarily on student enrollment. 

Deregulation can feed national attacks on public school systems, Graf said, and fits into a larger effort to defund public schools and invest in education savings accounts and vouchers — public school money used for nonpublic education. Rob Monson, executive director of the School Administrators of South Dakota, said Noem’s proposal to fund private education with public dollars is part of a national movement to help private businesses and organizations profit from education.

Changing models

Today, some alternative-school students in South Dakota experience an education with connections or similarities to traditional public or private schools, especially in Rapid City and Sioux Falls. They play school-sanctioned sports, take classes with other students, participate in their own choir or band, and host their own graduation ceremonies and proms.

Traditional homeschooling is stagnant nationwide, said Angela Watson, director of the Homeschool Research Lab at Johns Hopkins School of Education. The growth is in online, hybrid and microschools.

Hybrid and microschools — which are not accredited by the state — are private, in-person school settings. Online schools can be recorded or taught virtually. Co-ops are groups of homeschooling families teaching each other’s children lessons, or hiring a tutor to lead a class.

“It’s kind of a smorgasbord right now,” said Lisa Nehring, of Parker, who is the founder of True North Home School Academy. The online academy teaches roughly 600 children in grades second through 12th in math, literature, science, foreign language and other subjects.

Nehring said new education models cater to full-time working parents to find what fits best for their child. 

“You can do dual enrollment. You can be part of a co-op. You can do an online class. You can do online or in-person tutoring,” she said. “You can do all of these things at the same time.”

Tuition to hybrid and microschools can range from $3,000 to $7,000 annually across the state, founders of the alternative schools told South Dakota Searchlight. Alternative schools often seek out grants to make the school more affordable for families, but grants from private organizations and donations aren’t sustainable, they say. Acton Academy in Sioux Falls received over $25,000 from the VELA Education Fund in 2022 and Onward Learning received a $200,000 award as a 2024 Yass Prize semifinalist.

Mary Jo Fairhead, owner and founder of Onward Learning in Martin, said Noem’s education savings account proposal would be helpful, although $3,000 won’t cover the cost of educating a child at her school — over $6,000 per child, she said. Low-income parents could struggle to pay for the rest of the cost.

But she supports any efforts to get some funding to alternative instruction students, she said.

Reasons for choosing alternative instruction

South Dakota Searchlight connected through an online survey and interviews with more than 100 parents who chose alternative instruction for their children. Here are some of the reasons they cited:

Easier for parents than traditional homeschooling

Michelle Billingsley is co-founder of the Journey Homeschool Tutoring Program in Sturgis and Box Elder. She sees more families seeking out hybrid schools like hers because it’s less work than homeschooling. The school takes on planning and grading while parents teach their children when Journey doesn’t offer a class.

“Before we did microschool, I would spend hours preparing for the week for homeschooling: pulling out assignments needed or looking over what needed to be taught or planning for science projects,” Billingsley said. “All of that is eliminated for parents, with most projects done at school in class.”

Tailored interests

Alternative schooling allows students to tailor their education to career interests, said Mimi Klosterman, who started homeschooling 25 years ago. She focused her eight children’s homeschool curriculum on computers and cybersecurity, which she said wasn’t provided in public schools a decade ago, especially for middle schoolers.

“Getting that experience in middle school and high school and thinking about what you really want to do is important,” Klosterman said.

Renee Butcher and her husband, of Rapid City, homeschool their 8-year-old daughter while they travel for work. That flexibility allows them to focus on their daughter’s interests and strengths, she said.

Each time the family travels, Butcher takes her 8- and 1-year-old daughters to museums, theater performances or landmarks. Their education will include an experiential component rather than merely reading books at a desk, Butcher said.

Distance

Nearly 30% of school-aged children in the Bison School District are enrolled in alternative instruction, one of the highest percentages in South Dakota.

Generations of homeschoolers live in the Bison School District, said Superintendent George Shipley. Bison is one of the sparsest school districts in the state, with 190 school-aged children in a district spanning more than 1,330 square miles.

Since the shift away from country schools in the last century, often for financial reasons, some rural children can spend more than three hours a day riding a bus to schools in town.

On the Cheyenne River Reservation in north-central South Dakota, Paige Fast Wolf’s son had to wake up early to sit on a bus for an hour and a half before attending a public school. He was too tired to focus by the time he got to school, Fast Wolf said. He didn’t return home until around 5:30 p.m. 

“He’d start the day on a bad foot. He’d come home tired and starving,” Fast Wolf said. “It was just too much for him.”

Educational disabilities

Drew Dittmer’s 12-year-old daughter showed signs of dyslexia while attending public school. 

After switching to homeschooling, Dittmer enrolled his daughter in an online program catering to dyslexic children. Within a month, her reading and comprehension improved, he said.

Julie Christian, president of Families for Alternative Instruction Rights in South Dakota (FAIRSD), taught special education in the Sioux Falls School District for years before homeschooling her children. Now she has a private practice serving people with dyslexia and autism.

Some alternative students in South Dakota have other educational disabilities, including processing disorders, anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

“The parents think, ‘I can create something at home that helps them without stressing them out,'” Christian said. “They’re doing that, and there’s tons of support out there now.”

Fast Wolf pulled her 7-year-old son out of the Timber Lake School District after seeing him struggle to achieve in a traditional school setting. Her son has ADHD.

“He used to say he’s ‘the dumbest boy.’ He hasn’t said that since homeschooling, and the meltdowns have slowed down a lot,” Fast Wolf said. “He’s like a little sponge now and speeding up, and I just have to work really hard to keep him engaged and challenged.”

Anxiety

Chelsi Brown was nervous when her son started at Onward Learning, a microschool in Martin, because she didn’t know what to expect in the nontraditional format. But it was worth a chance, she thought, because she saw how anxious he’d become attending public school in the Oglala Lakota County School District.

Oglala Lakota is identified as a school improvement district, with students tested more heavily than a typical district to track performance. Testing starts in kindergarten, three times a school year, Brown said.

“Not having my own child go through it before, I didn’t really notice how much stuff is put on kids for testing,” Brown said.

Homeschooling or smaller micro or hybrid schools can allow students affected by anxiety more individual attention than they’d receive at a public school with a larger class, Brown said.