Accessibility regulations: what publicly elected boards need to know
Leaders in public education and local government should make accessibility an item on their board agenda for many reasons: legislation like the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the fines and reputational damage that result from noncompliance and their overall mission.
Public-sector organizations by definition exist to serve the public, meaning people with and without disabilities alike. Making digital materials, meeting livestreams and public websites accessible to all, while reducing barriers to these resources, is an ethical obligation, and essential to building community engagement and trust.
More broadly, when all members of the community have full participation in programs and services, everyone benefits. Local governments see stronger civic engagement and public schools greater student success.
Setting an example with consistent, codified standards
Across North America, mandates and standards at the federal and state/provincial levels define what accessibility means and give these expectations teeth. Noncompliance risks costly fines and violations, along with reputational damage and weakened community trust.
But strong accessibility governance yields multiple benefits beyond compliance.
When accessibility efforts align to an official standard, the governance team knows it is bringing established best practices to their organization. Within the board, this means consistently delivering access to resources like meeting minutes, training materials and procurement guidelines. And boards who are familiar with these regulatory requirements are well-equipped to set accessibility policies for their broader organizations.
To help publicly elected boards develop strong, up-to-date policies for accessibility, we’ve rounded up regulatory developments into a user-friendly guide.
The following pages offer:
- A detailed overview of laws and frameworks to know, plus agencies and issues to watch, in the regulatory landscape
- Tips and guidance on accessibility governance and administration, from peers grappling with the same decisions
- How Diligent Community can help you meet accessibility requirements
The regulatory landscape: Accessibility in local government and public education
Accessibility laws cover a wide-ranging and ever-expanding array of areas, from color contrast in PDFs to audio controls for recordings and video.
When navigating governance for your school or municipal organization, we recommend consulting with your legal team and doing in-depth research on specific agencies, laws and issues. But this high-level overview is a powerful start to understanding regulations that cover accessibility.
United States
Federal requirements
Accessibility guidelines for public sector entities are grounded in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, founded in 1973 to prohibit disability-based discrimination in programs funded by the Department of Education, and the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Section 508.
The ADA’s 1998 reauthorization keeps these regulations up with change by addressing technological barriers. The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) also considers technology accessibility and digital content an important part of its accessibility guidelines.
As technology has evolved, with more and more public services provided through websites and apps, so have these mandates. Key among them is Title II of the ADA, enacted by the DOJ in 2024. Title II applies the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), WCAG 2.1AA, to websites, Word documents, PDFs, apps, social media posts, broadcasts, recordings and more:
A few of these comprehensive requirements include:
- Descriptive identifications (e.g. alt text) for photos, graphics and other images
- Captions for live audio content and audio descriptions for pre-recorded video
- Inclusive use of language, text style and size, color and contrast
- Accessible headings, prompts, audio controls and navigation
It’s important to remember that these new standards apply to all of your public content, both what you provide yourselves and the third-party content you make available. For instance:
- Does your city work with a private company’s payment app for public parking?
- Do online student programs and services include third-party content?
- Are the board meeting minutes and agendas published on your website “up to code”?
Unless these situations specifically fall within Title II exemptions, your leadership is responsible for making sure they meet WCAG 2.1AA accessibility standards.
Just as vital for public sector leaders to know: the implementation deadlines. Entities serving 50,000-plus people must be in WCAG 2.1AA compliance by April 24, 2026. Special district entities and those serving smaller communities have a bit longer, until April 24, 2027, to comply.
Heightened enforcement strengthens the case for escalating accessibility on the board agenda.
A September 2025 National Law Review article explored increased Title II enforcement by the DOJ and noted that “an emerging area of law is whether places of public accommodation can include virtual spaces.”
Here are some examples:
- When the OCR assessed the online programs of Bridgman Public Schools in Michigan, it called out important images that lacked alt text and PDF documents that were incompatible with screen readers
- An OCR assessment of American River College in Sacramento, California, revealed similar deficiencies, along with insufficient color contrast and content access issues related to computer keyboards and navigation
- Both the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections must provide inmates with hearing disabilities video telephones, visual notification systems and other tools for equal access to services and activities.
State requirements
Many states incorporate federal ADA and WCAG standards into their own guidelines and augment them with their own laws and frameworks, including Alaska, Arizona, Utah and Virginia for government agencies and New Jersey for public schools.
Arkansas has state legislation related to nonvisual standards and access.
Iowa’s laws apply to website contractors, and Missouri law includes contracts and grants. California requires state agencies to post certifications of compliance.
Entities violating accessibility laws in Colorado can be ordered by the court to fix the accessibility issues and pay a fine of either $3,500 per violation or actual monetary damages.
Canada
Enacted in 2019, the Accessible Canada Act aims to “make Canada barrier-free by 2040.” Applying to organizations “under federal responsibility,” its sweeping provisions include information and communication technologies and the design and delivery of programs and services.
Planning and reporting requirements include accessibility plans that are updated every three years in consultation with people with disabilities, with feedback processes and progress reports.
As standards on web accessibility undergo review and finalization, organizations are encouraged to follow WCAG 2.0 guidelines and the Harmonized European Standard.
Accessibility legislation at the provincial level is fragmented and evolving, as disability advocate Carly Fox details in her blog. Quebec has been a leader in disability-specific legislation for over 25 years, Alberta has embedded accessibility considerations into its National Building Code, and eight of the 10 provinces, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, have acts of their own, with varying purviews and degrees of penalties.
Resources have emerged for applying these guidelines to digital content and in an educational setting. A few include Digital Education Strategies, curricula by Western University and the Bureau of Internet Accessibility.
Practical tips for accessibility compliance
1. Make sure the governance team and board are up to speed by researching relevant laws and regulations. These should include any accessibility-related stipulations for grant funding. Store these resources in the document library of your board management software to make them easily accessible for onboarding and other training requirements.
2. Apply this research to your organization:
- Start with your board and the areas where public accessibility is mandated, such as minutes, agendas, meetings and recordings.
- Identify activities across the organization where inclusive access is particularly critical. In public education, this could include admissions, enrollment, payments and learning materials.
- Consider the possible repercussions of noncompliance, including fines, investigation litigation and settlements, along with diminished community participation and trust
3. Evaluate how your apps, livestreams and other digital content currently measure up. This could include auditing your website against WCAG guidelines:
- Is it perceivable (visible to those with disabilities)?
- Is it operable, are all members of the public able to navigate it?
- Is it presented in an understandable way, so people with disabilities can interact with it in the same way as those without disabilities?
- Is it robust, with software programs that accommodate assistive technologies?
4. Work with relevant departments (legal, risk management, IT) to oversee the development - and implementation - of an accessibility plan. This plan should include:
- Audits
- Testing
- Training
- Continuous monitoring
- Critical deadlines, like those for Title II/WCAG 2.1AA compliance
5. Hold partners to the same standards. Incorporate ADA and WCAG requirements into vendor contracts and procurement processes.
6. Develop processes and policies for compliance oversight - and revisit them regularly as the regulations evolve.
7. Keep your community informed throughout. One way to do so is a public accessibility statement published on your website that:
- Clearly explains how your organization is meeting WCAG and other standards
- Includes contact information for feedback
- Incorporates updates to reflect progress
Diligent Community: inclusive access, today and tomorrow
Across public-facing web pages, agendas, minutes and livestreaming features, Diligent Community meets accessibility requirements fully, including WCAG 2.1AA and ADA requirements, and is moving toward WCAG 2.2AA compliance.
Features that support inclusive access for all board members and community stakeholders include:
- An accessible, ADA-compliant public transparency site, connecting community members to essential documents such as meeting agendas, policies and supporting materials in compliance with U.S. open meeting laws
- HTML-based agendas and minutes that are compatible with assistive technologies
- High-contrast color schemes and scalable text for low-vision users
- Keyboard operability and optimized navigation for users with mobility impairments
- Livestreaming with closed captioning that makes public meetings accessible to a wider audience. Recordings can be made available afterward, alongside timestamped minutes for easy navigation.
- Automatic notifications that keep community members informed about upcoming meetings and updates
- AI-supported meeting minutes and templates, using livestream transcripts to ensure that all discussions and decisions related to information and service accessibility are quickly and accurately captured, documented and readily available
Regular audits and VPAT documentation strengthen compliance confidence, assuring public sector leaders of conformance with federal and state accessibility standards.
Accessibility leadership and confidence await
Diligent Community can keep your public sector board on top of accessibility expectations, ahead of technological and regulatory change and on the path to stronger governance. Schedule a demo today.
