HB1054

Public schools in South Dakota must now adopt a policy allowing volunteers to serve as school chaplains, with each chaplain's religious affiliation publicly listed on the district website. The policy must specify chaplain qualifications and allowed duties, but cannot require student participation and must prohibit chaplains from having any disciplinary authority over students. Chaplain volunteers must pass the same criminal background checks as hired school employees and cannot have convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude, crimes of violence, sex offenses, or drug trafficking.