North Carolina - ADA Title II
North Carolina school districts (K-12): website accessibility requirements
North Carolina's public K-12 school districts, their schools, and district-run websites must bring their websites and digital documents to the WCAG 2.1 Level AA standard under ADA Title II. Here is the deadline that applies to you, what the standard requires, and the issues most likely to affect school district sites.
Your deadline
DOJ ADA Title II web rule · WCAG 2.1 AA
- April 26, 2027
- Population 50,000 or more
- April 26, 2028
- Under 50,000 & special districts
Which date applies depends on the population your entity serves, not your staff or student count. You can confirm your jurisdiction's population on the U.S. Census Bureau's QuickFacts. Entities serving 50,000 or more people fall under the earlier date.
These dates are set by the U.S. Department of Justice's ADA Title II web accessibility rule. Higher-education institutions follow the tier for the population of the state or locality they serve. This is general information, not legal advice.
What WCAG 2.1 AA requires
WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the technical standard both federal rules point to. In practice it means your website, mobile app, and the documents you publish must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust: usable with a keyboard alone, readable by a screen reader, legible at high zoom and adequate contrast, and free of barriers in forms and media.
For school districts (K-12), the surfaces that matter most are usually enrollment and registration forms, lunch-menu and calendar PDFs, board-meeting documents, staff-created classroom pages, and newsletters posted as images.
Common issues on school districts (K-12) websites
These are the barriers that most often turn up on school district sites. Use them as a starting checklist.
Untagged PDFs and scanned flyers
Newsletters, menus, and board packets uploaded as image-only or untagged PDFs cannot be read by a screen reader. This is the single most common failure on district sites.
Staff-created pages
The district is responsible for content staff post on Google Sites, Weebly, or personal pages, which often skip accessibility entirely.
Missing image alt text
Event graphics, staff photos, and infographics without text alternatives leave screen-reader users with nothing.
Inaccessible forms
Registration, permission, and contact forms without proper labels cannot be completed by keyboard or screen-reader users.
Video without captions
Board-meeting recordings, announcements, and lesson videos need synchronized captions.
Other North Carolina categories
Know exactly where you stand
We'll check your school district website against WCAG 2.1 AA and send a plain-language findings report. No overlay widget, no obligation.