Should South Dakota teens be able to drop out of school when they're 16?

Bill aims to let 'in-school truants' stay home, enter the workforce before they turn 18

PIERRE — South Dakota requires juveniles stay in school until they reach the age of 18.

But that law coupled with juvenile justice reforms adopted in 2015 have educators more than ever dealing with disruptive students who don’t want to be in the classroom instead of teaching the kids who do.

That’s according to proponents of Senate Bill 65, legislation introduced in the state Legislature last week that would reinstitute 16 as the age at which South Dakota teens can legally drop out of school.

“You had 10 years to get them to want to be educated and … now you have the power to say go, to police your building,” Sen. Lee Schoenbeck told The Dakota Scout from his Senate office while referring to what SB-65’s passage would mean for school administrators.

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