The educational needs described in this report are not unique to South Dakota. The inadequacy of the property tax revenue as a chief source of public school support is a fact of educational finance to which increasing attention is being given by school officials in many parts of the nation. A number of States, South Dakota included, continue to place the major responsibility for public school support on local property taxation and to rely on local initiative for developing an efficient system of school district organization. This document reports the results of an investigation into the quality of the education and the taxation system in South Dakota, and offers recommendations for citizen consideration. Committee members visited a representative sample of 25 school districts and utilized prepared data forms that elicited data on instructional practices, instructional facilities, pupil personnel services, innovations, special programs, pupil population, and staff characteristics. Two major recommendations asked that a concerted effort be made among citizens to reexamine the educational objectives of the State and that the State Department of Public Instruction and allied professional organizations strengthen their commitment to research and development as a means to assist in the improvement of public education. (Author)