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SDLA Compliance Resource

Publish the Annual CTE Nondiscrimination and Program-Access Notice

A federal civil-rights notice for making every career technical education opportunity, admission criterion, language-access support, and coordinator contact visible before the school year begins.

  • Civil Rights
  • Career Technical Education
Date(s)Before the beginning of each school year; continue nondiscrimination notice throughout the year
Applies toRecipients of federal financial assistance that offer or administer career or vocational education programs

In Plain Language: Before school begins, tell students, families, employees, potential participants, and the public that CTE opportunities are offered without discrimination. Include a brief program and admission summary, the Title IX and Section 504 contact information, and language-access information where needed.

Why this matters

Course catalogs alone may not reach people who have historically been excluded. Recruitment, counseling, prerequisites, transportation, facilities, work-based learning, and admissions can each create barriers even when the notice is correct.

Joint ownership

Owner: CTE/federal-programs administrator. Co-owners: Title IX and Section 504 coordinators. Partners: counselors, special education, multilingual services, HR, admissions, communications, facilities, and work-based-learning partners.

Operational workflow

  1. 1. Inventory every CTE pathway, location, admission criterion, prerequisite, work-based opportunity, and responsible contact.
  2. 2. Review enrollment, completion, counseling, recruitment, disability access, discipline, and placement data for barriers or unusual patterns.
  3. 3. Prepare the pre-year notice with protected bases, program summary, admission criteria, coordinator names, addresses, phones, and language-access assurance.
  4. 4. Disseminate through media that reach current and potential participants, employees, protected groups, and limited-English-proficient communities.
  5. 5. Resolve identified barriers and retain evidence for federal/state civil-rights monitoring.

If the requirement is missed

OCR or a state Methods of Administration review may require a corrective plan, revised practices, outreach, services, data review, or other remedies. The useful response is to identify the access barrier and repair it—not to treat publication alone as proof of equal opportunity.

Evidence to retain

  • Current CTE program/admission inventory
  • Approved annual and continuing notices
  • Distribution plan and translated/accessible versions
  • Title IX/504 coordinator verification
  • Equity data review and corrective-action record

Official guidance and help

Source review completed August 30, 2026. Verify current federal and California law, official guidance, local policy, named contacts, language and disability access, and the facts of the individual matter before acting.