Ready for the ADA Title II web rule.
The Department of Justice rule requires public school district websites, calendars and documents to meet WCAG 2.1 AA. HeyLevo Schools builds to that standard, so your team spends its time on what families need to know, not on fixing code.
This page explains the rule in plain words. It isn’t legal advice; check your district’s dates with counsel.
The rule at a glance
- Who
- State and local governments, including public school districts1
- Standard
- WCAG 2.1, Level AA
- Covers
- Websites, mobile apps, documents, calendars and payment systems
- Includes
- Content a vendor posts for you
Districts whose city or county has 50,000 people or more.
Smaller districts and special district governments.
More than the home page.
The DOJ’s fact sheet spells out what counts. For a school district, these are the parts that catch teams off guard.1
Calendars
Named by type, together with scheduling tools, maps, reservation systems and payment systems.
Documents and PDFs
Old documents are exempt only if they were posted before the deadline and are no longer used. Next year’s handbook isn’t.
Vendor content
Content posted for the district under a contract isn’t exempt. Your website vendor’s work counts as yours.
Archives
Only exempt when all four conditions hold: made before the deadline, kept for reference, stored in an archive area, and unchanged.
Password-protected pages
Only individualized documents for one person are exempt, under conditions. A parent portal page for everyone isn’t.
Mobile apps
Apps a district offers are covered by the same WCAG 2.1 AA standard.
Most errors are the same few.
A national study of K–12 websites found accessibility errors on 95% of them, with low contrast the most common.4 Across the web, the same handful of problems shows up again and again.5
And 49% of districts don’t formally check vendors’ accessibility claims.6 Ask every vendor for a VPAT. Including us.
Built in, not bolted on.
Accessibility is part of every template, not an overlay plug-in added on top. Here’s who does what.
What the platform does
- Templates built to WCAG 2.1 AA. Headings, contrast, form labels and keyboard use in every page.
- An accessible calendar. List and month views, readable by screen readers.
- Handbooks as web pages. Plus an accessible PDF, instead of a scanned file.
- Forms with labels. Every question is labelled for assistive technology.
- A VPAT on request. Our Accessibility Conformance Report for your files.
- An accessibility statement. With a form for families to report a barrier.
What stays with your team
- Describing photos. Only you know what a picture shows and why it’s there.
- Captions on videos. For videos your schools post.
- Documents from elsewhere. PDFs from other agencies or vendors you link to.
- Plain language. Clear writing helps every family, not only those using assistive tech.
We cover all four in staff training, as part of the free migration.
Title II questions.
What standard does the ADA Title II rule require?
WCAG 2.1 Level AA, for the web content and mobile apps of state and local governments, which includes public school districts.
When is our district’s deadline?
As of October 2026: April 26, 2027 if your district’s population is 50,000 or more, and April 26, 2028 if it’s under 50,000. A city or county district uses its city’s or county’s population; an independent district uses its Census estimate. A lawsuit asks a court to restore the earlier dates, so check with counsel.
Are PDFs like the student handbook covered?
Documents posted before the deadline are exempt only if they’re no longer used to apply for, access or take part in services. A handbook published for the new school year is in use, so it should meet WCAG 2.1 AA.
Is the calendar covered?
Yes. The DOJ lists calendars among the content that generally must meet WCAG 2.1 AA, along with scheduling tools, maps, reservation systems and payment systems.
Does an accessibility overlay plug-in make us compliant?
HeyLevo Schools doesn’t rely on one. Accessibility is built into the templates and the calendar, so pages are accessible as published.
Can we see your VPAT?
Yes. Ask for our VPAT (Accessibility Conformance Report) when you book a demo, and we’ll send it with your quote.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Justice, Fact sheet: the ADA Title II web and mobile accessibility rule.
- K-12 Dive, Justice Department extends web accessibility deadlines (April 2026); Seyfarth Shaw, DOJ extends ADA Title II website accessibility deadlines.
- Deque, NFB sues DOJ and HHS over deadline extensions (May 2026).
- Utah State University, study of US K–12 school websites.
- WebAIM, The WebAIM Million (February 2026).
- NSPRA and Sogolytics, digital accessibility survey of school districts (December 2025), via the California School Boards Association.
Get back to what you want to do.
Hand the website and message busywork to HeyLevo Schools. Keep the work only your team can do.
A 30-minute walkthrough, using your own school’s website.
Made with Levo