Former South Australian MP Troy Bell will spend at least two-and-a-half years in jail for stealing more than $430,000 in public money meant for not-for-profit education organisations.

The 52-year-old former member for Mount Gambier was sentenced to five years' jail in the District Court today after a jury last year found him guilty of 20 counts of theft and five counts of dishonest dealing with documents.

The sentencing judge said Bell's offending was a "sustained course of conduct", lasting from 2009 to 2013.

The court previously heard he had spent the money on home renovations and credit card debts.

The judge said Bell's offending was too serious for anything other than an immediate jail term and set a two-and-a-half-year non-parole period. Loading

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