Teton County school district seeks $150,000 for bathroom 'accommodation'

To comply with state law, Summit Innovations needs a single-stall bathroom before next school year.

JACKSON — In the wake of a new statewide bathroom law that immediately impacted public schools, Teton County School District Superintendent Gillian Chapman told lawmakers the district is “scrambling to follow” the “unfunded mandate.”

Chapman brought the issue to the Wyoming Legislature’s Select Committee on School Facilities on May 30. She said the district evaluated its facilities after Senate File 62 was signed into law on March 3 and one building doesn’t have a “reasonable accommodation” for students who don’t want to use a restroom that exclusively aligns with their sex at birth. Summit Innovations School, the community’s alternative high school, only has multi-stall restrooms and no single-stall option.

“As you’re aware, the penalties for noncompliance are steep,” Chapman said. “I’m a rule follower and I am very concerned that we are putting our children at risk.”

SF 62 requires students in public schools to use restrooms, changing facilities and sleeping quarters that align with their sex at birth when attending classes or school-sponsored activities. That means transgender students will no longer have the option to use the sex-assigned bathroom of their choice. 

The district must designate multi-stall restrooms, changing rooms and sleeping quarters for the “exclusive use” of the male sex and female sex. 

But schools must also provide a “reasonable accommodation” — like a single-stall restroom or changing room — for students who don’t identify with their birth sex. The “accommodation” can’t allow those students to access sex-designated facilities for members of the opposite sex while they are present.

Not only students are impacted. Coaches can’t enter a locker room for the opposite sex unless students are fully clothed and at least one adult who is a member of the same sex as the students is present at all times. There are some exceptions, however. A person of the opposite sex is allowed to enter a facility to render emergency medical assistance or for custodial repair.

Districts are required to adopt policies that provide disciplinary actions for people who break the new law, trustees aren’t allowed to adopt a policy contrary to the law, and a parent or legal guardian of a student enrolled in public school can sue the school if they believe the law is violated. The new law became effective immediately after the governor signed it.

Chapman said when the law went into effect, legislators likely assumed every school district had a reasonable accommodation already in place in all facilities.

“But that is just not the case in our school district,” she said. “So, we immediately and respectfully request funding to design and construct a single-stall restroom so that we may be in compliance with the law, especially by the time school opens in August of 2025 for summer school.”

A preliminary design has already been prepared, she said.

An architect and engineer assessed Summit Innovations and determined that the most cost effective remedy is to remove the water fountain in between the male and female multi-stall restrooms to build a single-stall lavatory. The design fee is $12,000, which Chapman said is about 10% of the construction cost. She hopes the district can get the design and project completed for between $150,000 and $175,000. The district is already in the process of planning for new facilities and negotiating funding with the State Construction Department to address capacity issues at Jackson Hole High School.

Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, a critic of the bill during the 2025 session, said the Legislature can’t allocate funds by the start of the next school year because it’s not in session. She asked State Construction Department officials at the meeting if the School Facilities Commission had emergency funds available for the project.

“Are there any other schools that have requested this and are not going to be able to follow the law based on what we wrote?” she said.

State construction officials said they’re exploring two main options right now: using part of the commission’s $4 million in emergency funding, or the governor’s emergency fund. A meeting is scheduled next week to decide.

Del McOmie, director of the Wyoming State Construction Department, said he recently learned about the mandate’s impact during a visit with Teton County. Officials aren’t sure how many other schools are impacted.

“Quite frankly, we don’t know how big this issue may or may not be,” he said.

A bathroom remodel isn’t the only change that the Teton County school district is considering following the 2025 legislative session. The board is set to take its final vote on a new policy on sex-designated facilities tonight. The policy nearly replicates the language of SF 62, but a paragraph at the start expresses discontent.

“The Wyoming Legislature has required this policy to be in place,” it states. “The Teton County School District Board of Trustees does not endorse the Wyoming Legislature’s policy, eroding local control that is a primary function of the elected board of trustees.”

If the Legislature repeals the law or changes it, trustees will immediately void their new policy.

“The Teton County School Board believes in treating everyone with respect and dignity and affirms the anti-discrimination policy,” according to the district.

This story was published on June 11, 2025.