Audit of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (October 16, 2025)

This is a state performance audit of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System, focused on whether its website met accessibility standards during July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of certain activities of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (MTRS) for the period July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.”

Auditors checked whether the MTRS website followed WCAG 2.1 accessibility rules for things like keyboard use, navigation, language, error messages, and color contrast.

“The purpose of our audit was to determine whether MTRS’s website adhered to the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 for user accessibility, keyboard accessibility, navigation accessibility, language accessibility, error identification, and color accessibility.”

If the website is not accessible, people with disabilities may have a harder time getting retirement information or using online services.

“Noncompliance with WCAG 2.1 reduces accessibility for individuals with disabilities and limits equitable access to MTRS information and services.”

If you are a teacher, administrator, retiree, family member, or member of the public using the MTRS site, better accessibility can make it easier to find benefits information, update member details, and use online services.

“MTRS’s website provides several utilities to its users.”

Auditors tested 50 webpages and found accessibility problems on every one of them.

“We reviewed a sample of 50 webpages and found that none of these webpages were compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.”

MTRS says it is already fixing problems, including broken links, labels, keyboard navigation, headers, and the site theme; the auditor’s office says it will check back in about six months.

“As part of our post-audit review process, we will follow up on this matter in approximately six months.”

This matters statewide because many adults in Massachusetts have disabilities, and government websites are a major way people get public services and information.

“The impact of these standards can be significant, as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1,488,012 adults (26% of the adult population) in Massachusetts have a disability, as of 2022.”

WCAG is the main web accessibility rulebook auditors used; it is meant to help make websites usable by people with disabilities.

“In 1999, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international nongovernmental organization responsible for internet standards, published the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 to provide guidance on how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.”