South Dakota Physical Therapy CE Requirements (2026): 30 Hours Every 2 Years

Requirements Overview

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants licensed in South Dakota renew biennially and must document 30 CE hours per 2-year cycle under ARSD § 20:66:03:01, self-attested on the renewal application and verified only if the Board randomly selects a licensee for audit.

CE activities fall into two categories: Category 1 (certified/credentialed coursework approved by SDBPT, another state's PT licensing board, APTA, or APTA-SD) can supply the full 30 hours, while Category 2 (participatory activities such as teaching, clinical mentorship, publications, or specialist certification) is capped at 15 hours. Course certificates reporting CEUs convert at 1 CEU = 10 CE hours. As of October 3, 2024, the Board updated which entities can approve a course, adding other states' PT licensing boards as an accepted approval source.

South Dakota does not allow unused hours to carry over into the next cycle, and there is no separately mandated jurisprudence, ethics, or human-trafficking topic — CE content simply needs to relate directly to PT practice.

Exemptions

• ✓
  New Graduate First Renewal Waiver — SDBPT allows a discretionary waiver of up to 15 CE hours (half of the 30-hour requirement) for first-renewal licensees who graduated from an accredited DPT/PTA program within the same 2-year licensing cycle. Requested via a waiver form (Appendix C affidavit) based on financial hardship experienced by students/new graduates.

  Waiver is discretionary, not automatic -- must be requested and approved by the Board

  Applies only to the licensee's first renewal after graduating within that same 2-year cycle
• ✓
  Hardship Waiver — A full or partial waiver of the CE requirement is available under SDCL 36-10-51 / ARSD § 20:66:03:04 for licensees unable to complete CE due to illness, disability, military service, or financial hardship. A notarized affidavit must be submitted at least 30 days before license expiration.

  Not an assurance the waiver will be granted

  Consecutive waiver requests receive higher scrutiny, since a 4-year period without CE is considered a greater public-protection risk than a single 2-year period without CE

How You Can Complete Your CE

South Dakota CE Rules & Limits

Details specific to South Dakota that generic CE guides tend to miss:

• Carry-over — South Dakota explicitly does not allow carry-over: CE hours in excess of the 30-hour requirement are not credited to a future licensing cycle and must be earned fresh within each 2-year cycle.
• Unit conversion: 1 CEU = 10 CE hours (e.g. 0.5 CEUs = 5.0 CE hours). Separately, 1 academic credit of post-professional PT-related university coursework = 15 CE hours. South Dakota's own rules are written in CE hours, not CEUs; conversion is only needed when a certificate reports CEUs or academic credits.
• CE hours are split into two categories with a combined 30-hour/2-year total: Category 1 (certified/credentialed coursework approved by SDBPT, another state's PT board, APTA, or APTA-SD) may supply up to 30 hours (100%) with no sub-cap; Category 2 (participatory activities -- e.g. First-time teaching, clinical instruction of students, clinical residency/fellowship mentorship, peer-reviewed publication, specialist certification, Healthy Practice Resource Tool self-reflection modules, non-manufacturer webinars, professional-organization office/leadership, and PT-related volunteerism) is capped at 15 hours (50%, or 1.5 CEU credits) per 2-year cycle.
• No carry-over of excess CE hours between licensing cycles is permitted (explicit 'No' answer in the guidelines FAQ).
• No state-mandated specific-topic CE (no required jurisprudence, ethics, or human-trafficking hours) -- content simply must be directly related to the practice of physical therapy under § 20:66:03:01/03:02.
• The CE course-approval rule (§ 20:66:03:02) changed effective October 3, 2024 (50 SDR 66, 'Set B'): it added 'a board responsible for licensing physical therapists or physical therapist assistants in another state' as an approval source, and dropped hospital/related-institution and college/university sponsorship as standalone approval bases that existed under the prior rule (effective December 7, 2017 - October 2, 2024, 'Set A', 44 SDR 95). Per the official CE page: CE completed in calendar year 2024 may use either Set A or Set B approval sources; CE completed in calendar year 2025 onward must use Set B.
• Activities NOT accepted for CE credit (Box 1, Appendix A of the guidelines PDF): breaks in instruction time; courses under 60 minutes; CPR certification/recertification; repeat credit for the same activity (except where explicitly allowed); employment orientation sessions; entertainment/recreational activities; management seminars not directly about PT operations; policy-making meetings; non-educational association meetings; student presentations; regularly scheduled institutional activities such as rounds; routine teaching required by one's job; staff meetings/lay-audience presentations; manufacturer/product-company training (unless separately approved by SDBPT, another state board, APTA, or APTA-SD); and university coursework completed prior to graduating from an accredited PT/PTA program.
• A new licensee may count Category 1 CE completed before graduation but within the current 2-year licensing cycle toward first-time renewal (e.g. If the license expires 01.01.26, Category 1 hours earned between 01.01.24 and 01.01.26 count); Category 2 hours earned prior to initial licensure do NOT count.
• SDBPT and APTA-SD use the third-party system CEU Locker (ceulocker.com) for licensees to track CE records and to submit individual course-approval inquiries under § 20:66:03:02; an individual approval via CEU Locker does not constitute blanket approval of that course for all licensees.
• Compliance is self-attested on the renewal application (checkbox + attached CE hour summary form); documentary evidence of completion is only required if the licensee is randomly selected for audit by SDBPT.
• The specific universal renewal/expiration date and renewal fee were not confirmed on the official pages fetched in this pass (the 'Renew Your License' and 'Licensing Requirements' pages describe process steps and initial-application fees but not a renewal fee or a single fixed expiration date); the official CE page instead references distinct, cohort-specific licensing-period windows (e.g. '01.01.24 – 01.01.26', '01.01.25 – 01.01.27'), suggesting expiration dates are staggered/individualized rather than a single fixed date for all licensees. The 2-year cycle length itself is stated consistently and with high confidence across both sources regardless of the exact staggered expiration date.

Provider Requirements

As of the rule update effective October 3, 2024 (50 SDR 66), CE activities must be directly related to the practice of physical therapy and approved by: (1) the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) or the South Dakota Chapter of APTA (APTA-SD); (2) the State Board of Physical Therapy (SDBPT); or (3) a board responsible for licensing PTs or PTAs in another state. (Under the prior rule, effective Dec 7, 2017 - Oct 2, 2024, approval could also come from a hospital/related institution or a sponsoring college/university, and covered CE completed through 2024.) Licensees may use CEU Locker (ceulocker.com) to individually pre-verify whether a specific course meets § 20:66:03:02.

Tips for South Dakota PTs

• Keep at least 15 of your 30 hours in Category 1 (board- or APTA-approved coursework); Category 2 participatory activities like teaching, mentorship, or committee service are capped at 15 hours per cycle and won't cover the rest on their own.
• Convert CEU-based certificates yourself before submitting: multiply CEUs by 10 to get CE hours, and academic credits by 15, since South Dakota's requirement is tracked in CE hours, not CEUs.
• Don't bank extra hours expecting a cushion next cycle — South Dakota explicitly does not allow CE hours to roll over, so hours beyond 30 in one cycle are lost.
• If a course isn't pre-approved by APTA, APTA-SD, SDBPT, or another state's PT board, submit it through CEU Locker for an individual approval check before you rely on it for credit.
• New graduates completing their first renewal can request a partial waiver of up to 15 hours, and licensees facing illness, disability, military service, or financial hardship can request a full or partial waiver — but both require a notarized affidavit filed at least 30 days before expiration and are not automatically granted.

Sources

Each figure on this page is taken directly from the South Dakota Board of Physical Therapy's official rules and continuing-education sources and recorded with the exact source excerpt. Last verified Jul 2026. Read how we compile and verify this data.

PT Requirements in Nearby States

Other Professions in South Dakota