School website design: what a school or district site needs in 2026

What a school website has to do

Good school website design starts with families. In SchoolCEO/Apptegy’s “What Parents Want” survey (January 2025), more than 1,400 public and charter school parents in 48 states ranked the district or school website first, both as where they most often first learn non-emergency news and as their preferred channel. It is a vendor survey, and it published no exact percentages.

NCES counted 99,297 operating public schools in 19,186 districts in 2023-24, about 7,800 public charter schools in 2021-22 and about 29,730 private schools in 2021-22. Nearly all need the same core pages:

• Calendars. The school year, events and board meetings, ideally as separate calendars.
• Enrollment. Registration or “apply” links on the homepage, with dates.
• Everyday quick links. Lunch menus, the parent portal, the staff directory and school hours.
• Board business. Agendas, minutes and how to attend, for public schools.
• Required postings. Nondiscrimination and Title IX notices, an accessibility statement and report cards (see the rules below).
• Language access. A translate option families can find from any page.

The ways to get a school website

The quick verdict: many public districts buy a K-12 platform such as Finalsite, Edlio or Apptegy, which bundle the website with alerts and an app, and none of them publish prices. Small private schools and preschools can do well on a general builder or WordPress. Google Sites is free for qualifying schools and suits classroom, club and small-school sites.

1. Google Sites

Google Sites comes with every Google Workspace for Education edition. Education Fundamentals is free for “government-recognized, accredited schools delivering instruction to students,” and Google’s eligibility rules also ask the school to maintain a website for the institution. Education Plus is shown at $6 per user per year, bought through sales, but you don’t need it for Sites.

2. A general website builder

Squarespace Basic is $19 a month billed yearly ($25 billed monthly), but it allows only 2 contributors. Core, at $29 billed yearly ($39 billed monthly), adds unlimited contributors, which matters when several staff post news. Wix Light is $17 a month billed yearly and Wix Core $29.

Neither has a school discount. Squarespace’s student discount is for full-time college students only. Wix gives TechSoup-member nonprofits 70% off a 2-year Premium plan plus a 1-year domain voucher, but the offer doesn’t mention schools. On our exit scale, Squarespace scores 5/10 and Wix 3/10, because Wix sites must run on Wix’s servers.

3. WordPress

Self-hosted WordPress is free software on hosting you pay for; Bluehost Starter is $3.99 a month on a 36-month term, then $9.99 a month. WordPress.com’s hosted plans run from $4 to $45 a month billed yearly. As a full CMS, WordPress can grow to hundreds of pages, and any WordPress developer can take it over. Phillips Exeter Academy and Maria Montessori School pages carry WordPress tags in their code. We build on WordPress every week, so weigh our bias. Someone has to handle updates, backups and accessibility checks. Exit score: 10/10 self-hosted, 8/10 on WordPress.com.

4. K-12 website vendors

Finalsite, which reported 1,000+ district clients in 2021, also owns two older platforms: Blackboard Web Community Manager (bought from Anthology in 2022) and SchoolPointe (2021). Edlio says it serves 19,000+ schools and districts. Apptegy’s Thrillshare publishes to the website, app, social media and alerts from one dashboard. PowerSchool sells SchoolMessenger Presence, and SchoolNow (formerly Campus Suite) is now part of SchoolStatus. All of them quote privately; Edlio’s FAQ says pricing “generally depends on the size and number of sites.”

The routes side by side

Scores in parentheses come from our exit scores tool; we haven’t scored the K-12 vendors, so that column shows what their terms say. Moving hundreds of pages is costly, so read our guide to leaving your website builder before you sign.

Whichever route you pick, keep the domain name in the school’s own account. Finalsite’s government terms make the customer responsible for “provision and maintenance of all domains and URLs.”

School website design ideas that work

Build around what families do every week, not the org chart. These ideas come from the sites in our examples.

Put the weekly tasks on the homepage

A row of quick links for the calendar, lunch menus, enrollment, the parent portal and the staff directory covers most visits. Lincolnwood SD74 adds a “Calendar at a Glance,” and Kerrville ISD pairs its menus quicklink with cafeteria payment.

Give each school its own front door

Clay County’s school sites live under the district domain, and Montclair Elementary’s header shows its address, grades K-6 and daily hours. Families who search for one school land on the facts they need.

Group the required postings

Kerrville ISD keeps its Title IX link and nondiscrimination notice under “Required Postings.” Fairfax County Public Schools puts its accessibility statement and nondiscrimination links in a footer menu.

Translation, apps and safety

Put the translate option in the main menu, as Clay County does. Wheaton North High School links its iOS and Android apps and a “Report Safety Issue” button.

Accessibility as a daily habit

Many problems come from what staff upload. In Kerrville ISD’s OCR case (see the rules below), the fixes covered contrast, alt text and inaccessible PDFs and agendas. No tool fixes that alone; Apptegy’s own ADA page says “No single tool can guarantee full compliance,” and Finalsite’s master terms contain no accessibility warranty. Our web accessibility entry covers the basics.

The rules a school website has to follow

Here are the main federal rules, plus three state examples, as of October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; your school attorney and state education agency have the final word.

ADA Title II: WCAG 2.1 AA, with new deadlines

DOJ’s 2024 Title II web rule makes WCAG 2.1 Level AA the technical standard for the websites and mobile apps of state and local governments, explicitly including public schools. It also covers contractors that provide services on a government’s behalf, so hiring a vendor doesn’t take the site out of scope.

An interim final rule published and effective April 20, 2026 pushed both deadlines back one year:

• Total population of 50,000 or more: April 26, 2027 (was April 24, 2026).
• Under 50,000, and special district governments: April 26, 2028 (was April 26, 2027).

Your district’s date depends on the population of the public entity, not on enrollment. DOJ says “A school district is not a special district government.” A city school district uses the city’s population, a county district the county’s, and an independent district the most recent SAIPE estimate (Census Bureau population estimates for school districts).

DOJ says it will consider a proposed rule on the substance but “fully anticipates implementing the regulation at the new deadline” if none is issued, and your existing Title II duties continue meanwhile. Whether every charter school is a Title II public entity, and how its population is set, isn’t spelled out on ada.gov, so charters should ask counsel.

Section 504 and OCR complaints

Section 504 covers schools that receive federal funds. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights resolves website complaints under both laws. In a 2023 resolution agreement, Kerrville ISD in Texas adopted WCAG 2.0 AA and had 30 days to fix contrast, alt text and inaccessible PDFs and agendas, with OCR retesting.

Title IX notice

Under 34 CFR 106.8(b)(2)(i), each recipient “must prominently display” its Title IX Coordinator’s contact information and nondiscrimination policy on its website. The 2024 Title IX rule was vacated in January 2025, and on September 29, 2026 the Education Department published a final rule restoring the pre-2024 text to the CFR, effective that day.

FERPA: directory information and photos

Under 34 CFR 99.37(a), a school may release directory information only after public notice of the categories, the parent’s right to refuse and the deadline to opt out in writing. The Education Department’s photo and video FAQ says a student photo kept by the school can be an education record; schools often designate photos of public events as directory information or get consent before posting.

COPPA and vendor tools

COPPA governs commercial operators, so on a school site it matters most for vendor-run forms, apps and chatbots that collect children’s information. The FTC’s COPPA FAQ says a school can consent for parents only when data is collected for the school’s use and no other commercial purpose, and vendors shouldn’t shift COPPA compliance onto the school in their terms.

ESSA report cards

Under 20 USC 6311(h)(2), each district must post its annual report card on its website. Texas Education Agency guidance says the Education Department expects federal report cards to stay posted for at least 3 years.

State examples

• Texas. TEA requires each campus School Report Card, ratings and the Texas Academic Performance Report on the district website by the 10th instructional day. TEA adds: “District websites must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA and ADA Title II accessibility requirements.”
• California. School Accountability Report Cards are due by February 1 and must be posted on the school’s website, per the CDE. The Budget Overview for Parents must be posted prominently with the LCAP on the district homepage.
• New York. Education Law 2-d requires each educational agency to publish a Parents’ Bill of Rights for Data Privacy and Security on its website.

Our US website laws guide covers privacy and other general rules.

Private school website design

A private school site has an extra job: enrollment. It has to move families from interest to inquiry to a visit and an application.

Build an inquiry funnel

Make “Inquire” the main button, then offer a tour or open house, then the application. Mark Day School puts “Request More Information” in its header and body and gives tours and open houses their own page. St. Ignatius College Preparatory uses three homepage cards: Learn, Visit and Apply.

Publish tuition and aid

Adams Montessori School lists 2026-2027 tuition by program, such as $15,842 for Primary full day, with payment in full, 3-month or 10-month plans. Sidwell Friends School keeps Tuition and Financial Aid under Admissions.

ADA Title III and religious schools

Private schools are listed as public accommodations under 42 USC 12181(7)(J), so ADA Title III applies. But 42 USC 12187 exempts religious organizations and entities they control, so many Catholic and other faith-based schools fall outside Title III; Section 504 still applies if they take federal funds. DOJ’s web guidance has no detailed Title III web regulation, calls WCAG “helpful guidance” and says businesses “have flexibility in how they comply.” Building to WCAG 2.1 AA anyway serves every family.

Pre-launch checklist

1. The domain is in the school’s or district’s own account.
2. Calendar, menus, enrollment, parent portal and staff directory are one click from the homepage.
3. Title IX Coordinator contact information and the nondiscrimination policy are prominently displayed.
4. An accessibility statement names a contact for reporting problems.
5. Pages pass a WCAG 2.1 AA check, including PDFs, board agendas and videos.
6. Every image has alt text and every video has captions.
7. Student photos follow your FERPA directory notice and opt-out list.
8. Required report cards are posted, with older years kept as your state expects.
9. Vendor forms, apps and chatbots have been checked against COPPA.
10. A translate option works on every page.
11. Old URLs redirect to new pages.
12. You have the vendor’s term, renewal notice period and export terms in writing.

Getting found after launch

Many visitors search for your school by name, so the first goal is making sure that name search lands on the right page. Use the full school name, address and grades in each page title and header, and link every school site from the district site.

Private and charter schools compete for enrollment, so give each program, grade level and campus its own page, and answer the questions families ask on tours. Our SEO entry covers the basics.

Where to go next

• How much a school website costs: real district contracts and 3-year totals.
• Best school websites: 15 real examples and one idea to copy from each.
• Best website builders, if a general builder fits your school.
• How to choose a website builder, step by step.

Website guides for other industries: Real estate, Law firms, Dental, Medical, Therapists, Contractors, Electricians, Restaurants.