direct the amendment of the Administrative Rules of South Dakota regarding the coursework required for high school graduation.

26.734.13 101st Legislative Session 1078

2026 South Dakota Legislature
House Bill 1078

Introduced by: Representative Nolz

Underscores indicate new language.
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An Act to direct the amendment of the Administrative Rules of South Dakota 1
regarding the coursework required for high school graduation. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA: 3
Section 1. No later than September 30, 2026, the Board of Education Standards shall, 4
pursuant to chapter 1-26, provide for and file with the secretary of state, the amendment of 5
§ 24:43:11:02, as set forth below: 6
24:43:11:02. General requirements for high school graduation. The units 7
of credit number of credits required for high school graduation must include the following: 8
(1) Four units or more credits of language arts that, which must include the 9
following: 10
(a) One unit credit of writing; 11
(b) One-half unit credit of speech or debate; and 12
(c) One unit credit of literature that must include , including one-half unit 13
credit of American literature; 14
(2) Three units or more credits of social studies that, which must include the 15
following: 16
(a) One unit credit of U.S. history; and 17
(b) One-half unit credit of U.S. government; 18
(3) Three units or more credits of mathematics that, which must include one unit 19
of algebra I; 20
(4) Three units or more credits of science that, which must include one unit of 21
biology; 22
(5) One unit or more credit in any combination of the following: 23
(a) ApprovedAn approved career and technical education courses course; 24
(b) A capstone experience; and 25
(c) World languages; 26
26.734.13 2 1078
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(6) One-half unit credit of personal finance or economics; 1
(7) One unit credit of fine arts; 2
(8) One-half unit credit of physical education; 3
(9) One-half unit credit of health or health integration; and 4
(10) Five and one-half units credits of electives. 5
A state -approved, year -long, advanced computer science course or two state -6
approved, semester-long, advanced computer science courses may be substituted for one 7
unit credit of science, but may not be substituted for biology. provided that the science 8
course being replaced is not biology. 9
A state -approved, year -long, agriculture science course or two state -approved, 10
semester-long, agriculture science courses may be substituted for one credit of science, 11
provided that the science course being replaced is not biology. 12
Within the coursework outlined above, a student may earn one or more advanced 13
endorsement, but is not required to do so. A student may earn one or more of the following 14
advanced endorsements: advanced, advanced career, and advanced honors. Substitutions 15
for laboratory science, using a state -approved computer science or a state -approved 16
agriculture science course, do not apply to the advanced and advanced honors 17
endorsements. 18
StudentsA student may be granted up to one credit in fine arts for participation in 19
extracurricular activities. A maximum of one -fourth credit may be granted for each 20
extracurricular activity each school year. In order to grant credit, a district must document 21
the alignment of the activity with fine arts content standards as approved by the South 22
Dakota Board of Education. A student may be granted a maximum of one-fourth credit for 23
each extracurricular activity each year. The school district shall document how the 24
extracurricular activity aligns with the fine arts content standards approved by the South 25
Dakota Board of Education Standards. 26
Academic core content credit may be earned by completing an approved career 27
and technical education course. Approval to offer credit must be obtained through an 28
application process with the Department of Education. The application must include : 29
(1) Course syllabus; 30
(2) Standards based curriculum; 31
(3) Teacher certification; 32
(4) Assessment of standards by methods including end -of-course exams, 33
authentic assessment, project -based learning or rubrics a copy of the teacher's 34
certification and a course syllabus, which must include the assessment standards and 35
26.734.13 3 1078
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must demonstrate that the curriculum is based on the applicable state content standards, 1
as approved by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards. 2
Source: 10 SDR 111, effective April 24, 1984; 11 SDR 96, 11 SDR 112, effective 3
July 1, 1985; 16 SDR 214, effective June 12, 1990; 23 SDR 31, effective September 8, 4
1996; 27 SDR 75, adopted January 17, 2001; 29 SDR 140, adopted April 1, 2003; 31 SDR 5
129, adopted March 2, 2005, effective July 1, 2009; transferred from § 24:03:06:06.01, 6
31 SDR 178, adopted May 4, 2005, effective July 1, 2005; 33 SDR 55, adopted September 7
11, 2006, effective September 1, 2007; 33 SDR 55, adopted September 11, 2006, 8
effective September 1, 2009; 36 SDR 96, effective December 8, 2009; 45 SDR 35, 9
effective September 19, 2018. 10
General Authority: SDCL 13-1-12.1, 13-3-47. 11
Law Implemented: SDCL 13-3-1.4, 13-33-1, 13-33-19. 12