This week, the Pritzker administration commemorated the signing of legislation ensuring equitable access to learning for students with disabilities, making Illinois a national leader in requiring Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance for digital education tools in K-12 schools. The new law requires content available on any third-party online curriculum service used in all public and private K-12 schools to be WCAG 2.1 compliant and readily accessible to individuals with disabilities starting August 1, 2022. WCAG guidelines provide a single, shared standard for web content accessibility and explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities, through features like text-to-speech, captions for videos, text alternatives for non-text content, and color-blind alternatives. With the passage of HB 26, these accessibility features will now be standard for digital tools used to educate our children. As more students are returning to classrooms around the state, they will continue using many of the digital education tools utilized during remote learning throughout the pandemic. Many of those tools in use currently pose challenges to students and parents who are disabled, often forcing families to take on out-of-pocket costs to ensure their children get the same education as fellow students. HB 26 is effective August 1, 2022.