Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight
South Dakota lawmakers on the the House Education Committee on Friday unanimously deferred action on a bill to more effectively remove violent children from public school classrooms on a temporary basis.
The bill was introduced at the request of the South Dakota Education Department and supported by Gov. Larry Rhoden’s administration. It would authorize school districts to require students with “aggressive or violent behaviors” that disrupt school or endanger other students or employees to continue their public school education in an “alternative setting.”
The legislation would help plug a “leaking” workforce pipeline, Education Secretary Joe Graves said, since teachers are increasingly leaving the profession due to violent student behaviors. South Dakota is still recovering from a yearslong teacher shortage.
Lawmakers determined the bill was too brief and too vague. The legislation doesn’t lay out the process for the removal, time limitations or parental involvement. Nor does it define “alternative setting” or “aggressive or violent behaviors,” said Rep. Mike Stevens, R-Yankton.
“I’m not sure 37 words is going to plug this hole,” Stevens said.
In 2015, 7.5% of South Dakota teachers left the profession entirely, according to department data. In 2025, 17.3% left the profession. Graves said behavioral issues are the second leading cause of teachers leaving the profession, behind teacher pay.
Graves said children have thrown objects through windows, destroyed classrooms and smashed computers — increasingly at the elementary school level, and sometimes injuring educators.
Graves shared a message from an elementary school teacher, who said if they were a new teacher “no way I’d stick it out if this is what I’d deal with until retirement.”
Several lawmakers raised concerns about how removing a student from a classroom for violent behavior would impede their education. Graves told lawmakers it would harm the student’s education.
“It’s better for the other 20 kids who don’t have to face that violence and disruption,” Graves said.
Rob Monson, executive director for the School Administrators of South Dakota, told lawmakers that the bill could cause legal challenges and more costs for school districts. Other lobbyists raised concerns about responsibilities not outlined in the bill and capacity issues at existing alternative education options, such as Children’s Home Society in Rapid City and Sioux Falls.
Monson added that schools already use in-school suspension to separate children within a building. Superintendents can suspend students for up to 90 days. School boards can choose to expel students, which involves a hearing and investigation.
Graves said expulsion is a “little-used disciplinary tool.”
Lawmakers asked Graves to meet with them, education lobbyists and other stakeholders over the next few weeks to amend the bill and reintroduce it to the committee.