CIPA compliance: what your school's web filter has to do

CIPA has three parts: a filter, a policy and education. Here's what each one asks, in plain English, and what to keep on file.

Updated November 11, 2026·2 min read

Short answer

CIPA requires E-Rate schools to use a technology protection measure that blocks obscene content, child sexual abuse material and content harmful to minors on computers minors use, to monitor minors' online activities, to adopt an Internet safety policy after a public meeting, and to teach online safety. Sheepdog Filter covers the filter and monitoring, locks adult content on for students, and gives you a printable CIPA filtering report for your files.

Who CIPA applies to

The Children's Internet Protection Act applies to schools and libraries that receive E-Rate discounts for internet access or internal connections. You certify compliance on FCC Form 486 (or Form 479 for consortium members) each funding year. Private and Christian schools that don't take E-Rate aren't required to comply, but CIPA is a good benchmark anyway.

What CIPA asks for

  1. A technology protection measure that blocks or filters internet access to pictures that are obscene, child sexual abuse material, or harmful to minors, on computers used by minors.
  2. Monitoring the online activities of minors.
  3. An Internet safety policy that covers minors' access to inappropriate material, safety in email, chat and social media, unauthorized access such as hacking, unauthorized disclosure of minors' personal information, and measures to restrict harmful material. It must be adopted after reasonable public notice and at least one public hearing or meeting.
  4. Education about appropriate online behavior, including on social networks and in chat rooms, and cyberbullying awareness and response.

What Sheepdog Filter covers

  • The filter. Adult and obscene content is blocked on every student network and managed Chromebook, and locked on: it can't be switched off or paused for students.
  • Monitoring. The dashboard shows what was looked up and blocked, and alerts you when someone tries a VPN or proxy.
  • Adults. Staff devices use a separate Staff profile. CIPA allows filtering to be disabled for adults for bona fide research or other lawful purposes.
  • A record. Your dashboard's CIPA filtering report is a dated, printable page showing how each network is filtered and the last 30 days of blocks. Print it for your E-Rate files each year.

What's still up to you

The Internet safety policy, the public meeting and the education part. Our Internet safety policy template is a starting point.

Sheepdog Filter

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Games, unblocked-games mirrors, proxies, VPNs and social media blocked on your network and every managed Chromebook. Free to start, live in an afternoon.

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Questions school IT asks

Does Sheepdog Filter certify our school as CIPA compliant?

No one but the school can do that: you certify it yourself on Form 486. We provide the filter and the record that shows it's working.

How long should we keep records?

The FCC asks E-Rate participants to keep documents for at least 10 years after the last date of service. Print or save the CIPA report each funding year.

Does CIPA require blocking games or social media?

No. CIPA is about obscene and harmful content. Blocking games and social media is a choice most schools make for focus, and it's on by default.

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