Way back in 2024, we talked about a new rule from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding web accessibility requirements. This rule applies to state and local government entities—including public K–12 school systems. The goal is to ensure that individuals with vision, hearing, cognitive, motor and other impairments can access the information and services public entities make available online.
When do you have to comply? The law ties compliance deadlines to the size of the entity. Remember, this rule applies to most public entities, not just schools. For a city or a county with its own census population, it’s simpler. For entities run by larger local governments, they use the larger entity’s population. For example, if a library is run by a city, it uses the city’s population.
For schools, the rules get a bit funky. The size of the school depends on if it is an “instrumentality” of a city or county, or if it is “independent” with its own boundaries and governance structure. For “independent” school districts, for compliance purposes, the size of the district is measured by the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE). The DOJ website guides independent school districts to look at the 2022 SAIPE, linked here for Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Other DOJ guidance says to use the “most recent” SAIPE, so if your school is near the 50,000 cutoff line, here’s a link to the 2024 numbers, published by the Census Bureau recently.
For independent school districts with a population of 50,000 or more, compliance with the new standards is expected by April 24, 2026. For districts under that threshold, compliance is required by April 26, 2027.
What, exactly, is the accessibility standard? The rule requires websites and digital content to meet a standard called WCAG 2.1, Level AA standards (2018 version). If you don’t know exactly what that means, join the club! It is an international web accessibility standard that the feds adopted wholesale as “the law.” Its scope is broad and includes:
Mobile applications
Social media content
Digital learning platforms and textbooks
Online forms, documents, and communications
In some cases, third-party sites that you link to
Are these rules changing again!? On February 13, 2026, the DOJ sent a revised version of the Title II web accessibility rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review as an Interim Final Rule (“IFR”). This matters because:
An IFR allows DOJ to revise the rule without going through a full public comment process first
The contents of the revised rule are not yet public
The rule is actively under federal review, and stakeholder meetings are taking place during this review process
In short, we know the DOJ is considering changes, but we do not know what those changes ultimately will be. The first deadline—April 24, 2026 for entities of 50,000 or more—remains in effect. While it is possible that the DOJ could modify the rule, there has been no official action to delay or revise the requirements. If changes are announced, we will provide updates, but for now, districts should plan to comply on schedule.
Most schools that have contacted us about these rules are already working with their technology staff and web/app providers. Just as one example, many schools run their websites through Apptegy. Companies like it promise compliant formats for web content, but schools also need to be familiar with the accessibility rules for things they include in their websites and apps. If you have any questions, reach out to your school district’s attorney or contact us at ksb@ksbschoollaw.com.