The South Dakota state board of education adopted a new set of science standards for the state on May 18, 2015. The new standards were developed in South Dakota, but include elements of the Next Generation Science Standards, which have so far been adopted in thirteen states — California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia — plus the District of Columbia.
During a series of public hearings on the proposed standards, "[t]he debate over choosing standards for science education in South Dakota's public schools [became] a divisive battleground with a clear split between science professionals who strongly support the new standards and opposing parents who disbelieve climate change and evolution," reported the Rapid City Journal (March 17, 2015).
A recognition of the controversy appears (PDF, p. 6) in the introduction to the standards: "Through the public hearing process related to adoption of the South Dakota Science Standards, it is evident that there is particular sensitivity to two issues: climate change and evolution." Nevertheless, the South Dakota standards on climate change and evolution are not significantly different from the corresponding standards in the NGSS.
The board "recognizes that parents are their children's first teachers, and that parents play a critical role in their children's formal education" and "that not all viewpoints can be covered in the science classroom," adding, "the board recommends that parents engage their children in discussions regarding these important issues, in order that South Dakota students are able to analyze all forms of evidence and argument and draw their own conclusions."