SIIA Title II Compliance Expected to Be Expensive

The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) has warned that SIIA Title II compliance will be expensive. K12 Dive reported that Title II has a rule on online content accessibility. This rule requires EdTech companies and school districts to invest a considerable amount of money and time to comply.

Research by University of Chicago shows that EdTech substitutes tutoring time with high-quality educational content. The content is delivered through technology. EdTech enables institutions to reduce educational costs by a third. It also cuts back the number of tutors in schools by 50%. It does this without compromising on the impact of tutoring on students.

The Cost Aspect

The SIIA represents the digital content and software industry. The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) estimates that the time-consuming Title II Compliance will cost $1.134 billion for K-12 classroom courses. $5.5 billion will be required for post-secondary courses.

School districts will have to remediate current third-party websites. These processes are expected to cost an extra $113.8 million. A further $93.6 million will be required for higher education.

Web Content Guidelines

The Title II rule requires public institutions to adopt Version 2.1 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This compliance standard will ensure that mobile apps, websites, and digital textbooks have the right accessibility features. These features include images, text, videos, animation, sounds, and controls that are accessible.

Accessibility features may include web content used to support keyboard alternatives. These alternatives are necessary for mouse commands where users have limited manual dexterity. Visually impaired users need them to resize text. The standard also applies to posts on social media.

Several exceptions will be made to Title II compliance SIIA. For instance, social media posts that exist before the rule takes effect will not be affected. Content published on government websites or mobile applications by third-parties will not be affected.

Compliance Deadline

DoJ’s Title II rules will take effect by the end of June 2024. But, public universities and schools have two to three years to comply.

“Vendors providing services to state and local government entities should be ready as the compliance dates come near,” the paper stated.

SIIA Title II compliance depends on the size of the population in a local jurisdiction or state. For instance, if a K-12 school is located in a city or county with 50,000 plus people, it should comply by April 24, 2026. Public universities in the same city would work with the same deadline. This is because they are state entities.

These timelines will change if K-12 school districts or community colleges in the same location have 49,999 or less. For these public institutions, the deadline for compliance will be April 26, 2027.