Beginning in either April of 2026 or April of 2027 – depending on the size of the district – new federal regulations require schools to ensure their web sites and other online content are accessible to individuals with disabilities. That means schools will have to review their web content to determine, for example, whether online photos include a text description for a screen reader, or whether school calendars are available in a plain text option. This detailed review of district web content will take much time and effort on the part of schools to ensure compliance.
Specifically, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) requires public schools to provide accommodations so that individuals with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in, and enjoy the benefits of, a service, program, or activity of the school system. Part of those accommodations require public schools to provide auxiliary aids and services to ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities.
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently published a new federal rule that will require state and local governments, including school districts, to ensure that web content is accessible. Specifically, Title II of the ADA will be amended to include technical requirements ensuring that any web content, either provided by the school district itself or made available through contract or licensing, is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities. “Web content” is defined as any information and sensory experience that is communicated to the user by means of an agent, like a web browser. It includes text, images, sounds, videos, controls, animations, QR codes, mobile apps, PDFs, and other electronic documents. “Web content” includes anything on your district website, of course, but also things such as your social media posts and Google Classroom content.
When do you have to comply?
DOJ recognizes that smaller public entities like school districts will face challenges implementing the new regulations. School districts with a total population living in the district’s boundaries of 50,000 or more will have until April 24, 2026, to comply. School districts with a total population of less than 50,000 will have until April 24, 2027, to comply with the new requirements. To check and see where your district falls in population size, refer to this list.
What does compliance look like?
The new ADA rules use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) as the technical accessibility standard for web content. The WCAG Guidelines are organized under four principles: web content must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for users with disabilities. For each guideline, there are testable “success criteria,” which is how WCAG (and, by extension now, the federal government) measures conformance. Elements include adequate spacing and sizing of text, color saturation and contrast, descriptive text links, alternative content that can be accessed by assistive technology, operable navigation, and the like. Districts must ensure their web content complies going forward from the compliance deadline. That means you do not need to go back and fix old social media posts, just current web content and materials posted after your compliance deadline.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) has also issued general guidance to assist school districts in complying with these technical requirements. According to OCR, school districts should prioritize screen reader accessibility, closed captioning, and alternative text options to start. Some examples of accessibility issues include:
Text Alternatives for Photos: Any information that is shared via image (e.g. a picture of text) must be published with a text description that can be processed by a screen reader.
QR Codes: These codes are typically not supported by assistive technologies, so a district should include an alternative text description or include the URL in plain text.
Interactive Calendars: Interactive calendars are generally not screen reader friendly due to their complexity. Using Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) elements on the calendar could assist with screen readers. Districts can also provide a plain text calendar in addition to any interactive calendars.
Recordings of Board meetings: Any recordings of public meetings must have closed captioning. While YouTube and other apps provide captioning, those services are often not ADA compliant (e.g. improper capitalization and punctuation), so districts may need to provide the captioning themselves or manually edit the automated captions.
What happens if you don’t comply?
If a complaint is filed with OCR alleging that the district is not complying with ADA web accessibility requirements, OCR will notify the district and begin an investigation. The investigation has four stages. First, the district and OCR will audit the web content for accessibility issues. Then, the district and OCR work together to create a plan to fix those issues and to train staff in web accessibility. Finally, the district and OCR draft and establish an accessibility policy. Generally, OCR gives districts 180 days to complete the process, but this can be extended if the district is acting in good faith to resolve accessibility issues.
In preparation for the 2026 or 2027 deadline, districts should communicate with their IT departments and conduct audits of any websites, mobile apps, publicly available recordings, or other web content and begin implementing the necessary tools to make those accessible. Please reach out to legal counsel for any questions or concerns in the meantime.