K-12 Schools Can No Longer Ignore Website Accessibility: What Leadership Can Do Now
- Shelby Ruch
- Oct 13
- 5 min read
Public schools and their districts have entered a new era: digital infrastructure like websites, learning platforms, mobile apps, internal systems and more must be accessible. The Department of Justice’s 2024 Title II rule formally requires public entities like schools to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. For district superintendents, principals, school boards, and communications departments, this is more than simply a technology issue that we can punt off to our IT teams. It’s about equity, legal risk, community trust, and being proactive before complaints and expensive fines come knocking. This article breaks down exactly what your district needs to know and act on in order to be fully accessible.
What’s Changed?
On April 24, 2024, the DOJ published its final rule that amended Title II to specify that web content and mobile apps that are maintained by state and local governments must be accessible. This includes public educational institutions. While the federal rules are the gold standard across the country, some states, including Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, California, and more, have enacted additional legislation. Don’t face double compliance violations from both the federal and state ends. Make sure to map your own state obligations as you plan for your school district.
For the federal requirements, there are two different accessibility deadlines, depending on population size. School districts that serve communities under 50,000 people must achieve compliance by April 26, 2027, while school districts that serve communities over 50,000 people must achieve compliance by April 24, 2026.* Many districts may have only a short window left, and even if your deadline isn’t for another year and a half, it’s time to plan.
It's Bigger Than Your Website
A common misconception is that only the district’s main website has to be accessible. But that’s far from enough. Districts must address accessibility across every digital touchpoint that’s used by students, staff, and the public.
Key areas that need to be accessible may include (but aren’t limited to!):
Public-facing online assets, like district and school websites, social media posts, newsletters, and announcements
Digital documents, such as PDFs, PowerPoints, spreadsheets, forms, videos, and audio
Learning Management Systems (LMS) and instructional content, including courses, online assignments, digital textbooks, and video or audio lectures
Internal tools, like HR systems, admin dashboards, email systems, internal forms, and more
Third party tools, which includes any external software your district purchases or uses
Delaying Is Risky Business
If you’ve never heard of digital accessibility before, you might be tempted to think that there won’t be anyone in your community impacted or that complying with these new federal guidelines isn’t a top priority. But in reality, 44.1 million people in the United States have a disability.** That amounts to 13% of the national population. Plus, the federal government is actively investigating school districts over inaccessible websites and digital tools. High-profile cases span the country, like Miami-Dade County Public Schools, who spent several years under the Office of Civil Rights rebuilding their digital infrastructure and Seattle Public Schools, who entered into a consent decree for improving its online accessibility. These isn’t just a theoretical risk because districts are already being held accountable, as in the examples above, and because courts are increasingly viewing inclusive website access as nonnegotiable.
So How Can Your District Prepare?
If you’ve read this far in this article, you may be overwhelmed with how much work goes into making websites and documents accessible. It’s important to understand that you can’t change everything all at once. But you can create a practical plan that improves your accessibility one step at a time.
Take stock of your digital assets: the first and most important step is to understand where you’re starting from. Do you have documents, videos, images, and forms that need to be compliant? Are the colors of your website passing contrast standards?
Prioritize by impact: Once you’ve figured out what materials you must make compliant, order them by what’s most important. Do you have blind students that need online curriculums that can be read by assistive technology? This may be a top priority over social media posts.
Run automated scans: Flag any basic issues like missing alternative text, heading structures, and more.
Review your vendors and contracts: Make sure your contracts address accessibility standards. Dig into whether your tools and software can be made accessible or find new ones.
Build remediation into your workflow: All new content must be created with accessibility in mind, passing compliance standards before publication.
Training your staff: Ensure that content creators, web developers, curriculum authors, employees, communication staff, and all team members of your district understand the importance of accessibility and complying with the WCAG standards.
Track your progress: While making changes to your website and documents to ensure accessibility, it’s important to keep a log of what all has been changed and what’s left to work on. Schedule periodic audits to ensure you’re on the right track.
Tips and Tricks for Compliance
Even well-intentioned accessibility efforts can quickly run off the rails if you don’t have the right strategy. From quick fixes to overlooked responsibilities, these common pitfalls may slow your accessibility progress. Keep these key tips and misconceptions in mind as you plan your path toward full ADA and Section 508 compliance.
Overlay widgets don’t guarantee compliance. Many of these widgets claim they’ll fix your website in a click, but they are legally risky. Overlay widgets only work sometimes, and worse, they often interfere with assistive technologies.
Don’t rely solely on your vendors. Unless your vendors are contractually obligated to ensure accessibility, you are ultimately responsible.
Start early. Even though deadlines may be months or years away, remediation is labor-intensive and takes time. The best time to start making your website and documents accessible was yesterday. The second-best time to start is today.
Accessibility is a team sport. Legal, IT, curriculum, communications, and more – all departments must coordinate and be educated about the importance of accessibility.
Document everything. If your district ever gets fined or sued, you’ll want clear audit trails, vendor contracts, remediation logs, training records, and more.
Digital accessibility is mandatory, urgent, and important for members of your community. The lives of students, families, community members, and staff depend on inclusive digital environments just as much as physically accessible school buildings. Here at Splash Box, we understand that you don’t have unlimited bandwidth and resources. But the shift to compliance with ADA accessibility standards isn’t just a burden. It’s a chance to build more inclusive, user-friendly digital systems. We specialize in WCAG and ADA compliance training, remediation, and accessible web design. For help at all stages of your accessibility journey, contact us at info@splashbox.com.