Your South Dakota Teen's Path From Permit to License

First, the big decision: course or no course

Nothing in South Dakota law forces a teen into drivers ed. Every stage of the graduated system is open without a class. What a course buys you is time and fewer tests, and DPS frames it exactly that way.

The time saving comes from SDCL 32-12-12. Teens who pass a course carrying the state Department of Education's approval, or an out of state course the DPS secretary accepts, can step up to the restricted stage once they have held the instruction permit for 180 straight days. Without one the wait is 275 days. Put in calendar terms: if your 14 year old gets a permit in early September, the course version of the timeline reaches the restricted stage in early March, while the no course version lands in early June.

Which courses actually count

Look for a local program run by a school district or community organization. DPS is blunt about the online products sold by private companies: the state does not review, approve, certify or recognize them, so they neither shorten the permit period nor replace a test. Paying for one in place of a local class gets you nothing on paper.

DPS does not post a statewide provider list. It sends families to Christopher Grant, the state's driver education coordinator, on (605) 431-6520. When you call a program, ask two things before you hand over money: will DPS accept its certificate, and how many hours of classroom and driving does it include.

Timing the course so the certificate still works

Your teen can start a course before holding any permit. SDCL 32-12-28 lets an enrolled student in a class the Department of Education has approved drive on a route or area the program designates, with the approved instructor in the passenger seat. Some families use this to get the first nervous miles done with a professional.

The certificate has a one year shelf life. Shown within a year, it waives the knowledge test at the permit visit, and a passing certificate from the past year also replaces the drive test when your teen moves to the restricted permit. Once it is older than a year it does neither. A practical example: a course finished in the summer before the permit visit covers the written test, but if the restricted permit visit comes more than a year after the course, plan on a drive test.

Each program sets its own schedule, length and tuition; the DPS drivers ed page sets no hour minimum for the whole state. You will often see about 30 classroom hours, some time behind the wheel and an 80 percent pass mark advertised, but confirm those details with the program itself.

Permit day at 14: what to bring and what happens

Your teen must be at least 14 and must apply in person at a driver licensing site with a parent or legal guardian, because SDCL 32-12-6 requires parental consent for anyone under 18. Any visit with a test needs an appointment. DPS offers no sample tests, so the Driver License Manual on its manuals page is the study material.

For identity, the birth certificate must be the certified copy that the birth state or county issued. The decorative hospital version is turned away. Add the Social Security card itself and a pair of mailed items that prove where you live; they can carry the parent's name. The written test needs 80 percent or better, along with a vision screening, and a drivers ed certificate under a year old replaces the written part.

The fee is $38 as of October 2026. It was $28 before July 1, 2025, which is why older guides quote less. Because SDCL 32-12-42.1 makes every card held by a driver under 21 run out 30 days past that birthday, DPS may prorate the fee when the card will run less than five years.

• Who can supervise: a licensed driver 18 or older with a year of experience, in the front passenger seat
• Late at night, from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m., the supervisor has to be a parent or guardian
• Phones and every other wireless device stay off while driving
• Under SDCL 32-12-11 the instruction permit lasts five years

While on the instruction permit: the 50 hour log

Any permit issued after July 1, 2020 comes with a minimum of 50 supervised hours under SDCL 32-12-11. The supervisor can be a parent, a legal guardian, or any licensed adult over 18 who has driven for at least a year. A fifth of the hours must be in the dark and another fifth in rough weather. In a South Dakota winter that usually means snow, ice and crosswinds, which is exactly what you want your teen to see with you in the car.

Track the hours on the DPS Supervised Driving Log. At the upgrade visit a parent signs the Supervised Driving Affidavit, swearing the 50 hours were driven after the permit was issued. A drivers ed course does not knock any hours off; it only shortens the number of days.

If an older child got a permit before July 1, 2020, their rules were different: a 180 day hold, 90 days with a course, and no hour count. Following that sibling's schedule will leave you about three months short.

On test day for the restricted permit

Moving up from the instruction permit normally means a scheduled drive test in a street legal car that you supply. Nobody else, people or pets, may ride along, and the passing mark is 80 percent. After a fail, the earliest retest is the next working day, and one fee covers three attempts within six months.

Some mistakes cost a 30 day wait before the next attempt: an at fault crash, rolling through a red light or a stop sign, not yielding, driving much too fast, or ending up on the wrong side of the road. A teen who passed an approved course within the past year skips this test at the upgrade, which is one of the best arguments for a recognized local program.

After you pass: living with the restricted minor's permit

This is the middle rung. With your blessing, your teen can drive solo any time between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Overnight, a parent or guardian has to be in the front seat. The exceptions are the most direct trip between home and school or a school activity, church or another religious event, a job, or farm work, plus running unregistered farm machinery.

Passengers are limited by SDCL 32-12-12.5. In the first six months, only immediate family or people from your household may ride. After that, your teen may carry a single non-family rider younger than 18. None of this applies when a parent, a guardian, or an adult from the household who has driven for a year or more is in the car. The permit also does not cover anything over 20,000 pounds gross weight, apart from unregistered farm machinery.

Farm and ranch families should know two more limits. SDCL 32-12-14 keeps restricted permit holders out of trucks hauling for mining, logging or road building, and out of work on stock dams and dugouts away from the family place; a mounted sawmill is excluded as well. Everyone under 18 must wear a seat belt in every seat, which DPS repeats in its teen pamphlet.

If something goes wrong: tickets on a permit

Permit holders get little slack. Breaking a permit condition, for example taking the car out alone on an instruction permit or staying out past 10 p.m. without an allowed reason, leads to a 30 day suspension under SDCL 32-12-15.1. DPS gives the same 30 days to a holder under 16 convicted of a first Class 2 misdemeanor traffic offense.

A repeat conviction, any felony, or a traffic offense charged as a Class 1 misdemeanor means 180 days off the road or suspension until the 16th birthday, whichever runs longer. Every conviction also restarts the six month clean period required before each upgrade. And a parent who signed for the permit may cancel it in writing at any point before the teen turns 18.

Money, insurance, out of state courses and the last upgrade

On the October 2026 DPS fee table, each of the three stages costs $38, consistent with SDCL 32-12-16. Card payments at an exam station carry a surcharge of $2 or 2.95 percent, whichever comes out higher. Course tuition comes from each local program.

We did not find a South Dakota law that makes insurers lower a premium because a teen finished drivers ed, so ask your own insurer. If your family is moving in and your teen took drivers ed in another state, send DPS its Out of State Driver Education form. SDCL 32-12-12 gives the DPS secretary room to recognize a course that another state's government approved. Call (605) 773-6883 before your visit to learn how an out of state permit and logged hours will be handled.

The final step is easy for a clean driver. SDCL 32-12-12.3 lets a teen whose record shows no traffic convictions make the switch to an operator's license by mail or online, with no eye test. With a conviction on the record, the teen has to go in person.