South Dakota

YES, but as an EITHER/OR: South Dakota's base high school diploma requires 0.5 unit of 'PERSONAL FINANCE OR ECONOMICS.' A student may satisfy it entirely with Economics and never take personal finance.

Approved July 2018 with a 'soft implementation' window (schools could use the 2018 requirements, the 2009 requirements, or both); FULL IMPLEMENTATION of the 2018 requirements beginning with the 2020-2021 school year. Handbook updated July 2020.

Source: ADMINISTRATIVE RULE, not statute: ARSD 24:43:11:02 (general requirements for high school graduation), with total credits in ARSD 24:43:11:01 (22 units). Adopted by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards JULY 16, 2018. No bill/session/signing date applies; no SDCL section identified.

How it may be delivered: Standalone half-credit course in EITHER subject; it is a separate line item from the 3-unit Social Studies requirement, and 'double dipping' is BARRED - the handbook states 'Economics cannot meet both the Social Studies elective credit requirement and the Personal Finance or Economics credit requirement.' No integration option is described.; Source: South Dakota — delivery model: primary source(s) named in the field text and at the linked URL; read and verified 2026-08-09
Credit value: 0.5 unit of Personal Finance or Economics, within a 22-unit minimum for the base diploma.; Source: South Dakota — credit value: primary source(s) named in the field text and at the linked URL; read and verified 2026-08-09
Instructional-hour rule: Not yet verified to a primary source — we publish only what we can cite.
Below high school: NONE. The graduation requirements and handbook cover grades 9-12 only; no middle or elementary personal finance requirement or grade checkpoint is specified.; Source: South Dakota — below-high-school requirement: primary source(s) named in the field text and at the linked URL; read and verified 2026-08-09
State-mandated assessment: NONE. No state assessment or EOC is attached to the Personal Finance/Economics requirement; an end-of-course exam appears only as one LOCALLY CHOSEN method of awarding a unit of credit under ARSD 24:43:01:01.; Source: South Dakota — state assessment: primary source(s) named in the field text and at the linked URL; read and verified 2026-08-09
Who may teach it: Not yet verified to a primary source — we publish only what we can cite.
State course codes: Not yet verified to a primary source — we publish only what we can cite.
Standards framework: NO standalone state personal finance standards exist. The Economics side of the requirement maps to the South Dakota Social Studies Standards, which include a 9th-12th Grade Economics course; a keyword check found NO Personal Finance course or section. (Adopted APRIL 17, 2023); Source: South Dakota — standards framework: primary source(s) named in the field text and at the linked URL; read and verified 2026-08-09
Funding a district may cite: Not yet verified to a primary source — we publish only what we can cite.
State agency contact: Vera Van Winkle, SD DOE, 605-773-0871 (course requirements to graduate); Melissa Bothun, 605-295-0433 (social studies); SD DOE main line 605-773-3134.; Source: South Dakota — agency contact: primary source(s) named in the field text and at the linked URL; read and verified 2026-08-09

Facts on this page last verified 2026-08-09; every pack is re-verified on a six-month cadence, and anything we cannot cite is marked rather than guessed.

The district awards the credit — no platform can. Ours is designed to align with the state’s learning standards, and it produces the documentation a district needs to award credit: the course object with its federal course code, a pass determination that shows its arithmetic, an hour ledger that counts only observed instructional minutes, and a verified record of demonstrated mastery for every student.

See the platform