During the 2014 Legislative Session, the South Dakota Legislature unanimously passed and the governor signed into law SB 63, An Act to protect the privacy of the records of individual students. Within this law are these requirements.

No elementary school or secondary school student shall be required to submit to a survey,

analysis, or evaluation that reveals information concerning:

(1) Political affiliations or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent;

(2) Mental or psychological problems or aspects of the student or the student’s family;

(3) Sex behavior or attitudes of the student or the student’s family;

(4) Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior;

(5) Critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships;

(6) Legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers;

(7) Religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or student’s parent;

(8) Personal or family gun ownership; or

(9) Income (other than that required by law to determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receiving financial assistance under such program);

without the prior consent of the student (if the student is an adult or emancipated minor), or in the case of an unemancipated minor, without the prior written consent of the parent.

 It is illegal for any school district in the state of South Dakota to administer any survey asking for the above listed types of information without parental consent. Yet, schools are trying to do administer these types of surveys only telling parents they have the right to opt out, as per federal law. We have found that school districts are not aware of the new law. Please go to the link above and print off a copy of SB 63 and respectfully take it into your school’s principal or superintendent. Be aware of your rights as parents.