Teton County superintendent asks committee for immediate funds to meet new single‑stall restroom requirement
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Summary
Teton County School District Superintendent Gillian Chapman asked the committee to help secure funding so the district can meet requirements of Senate File 62, which requires reasonable single‑stall restroom accommodations; the district seeks funding for preliminary design and construction to comply before summer programming and the fall term.
Teton County School District Superintendent Gillian Chapman urged the Select Committee on School Facilities to help secure immediate funding to bring one school into compliance with Senate File 62 by adding a single‑stall restroom.
“For summer school we are able to use a different facility, to ensure that our visitors and our students have access to an appropriate, reasonable accommodation,” Chapman said, and added that the district had engaged an architect and engineer; the design fee is $12,000 and the district’s preliminary estimate for design and construction was provided in testimony as a not‑to‑exceed figure (final cost not specified). She told the committee the district believes the building’s current multi‑stall restrooms do not permit staff to offer the reasonable accommodation required by SF62.
Committee members asked whether the commission has emergency funds available. Del McColmy, director of the State Construction Department, and other department staff said they are exploring two immediate avenues: the commission’s emergency fund and the governor’s emergency fund, and that they had a meeting scheduled with policy staff to determine the best path. McColmy told the committee the commission’s emergency fund balance is “a little over $4,000,000.”
Committee members urged a quick remedy. Representative Provenza asked whether other districts had raised similar concerns; department staff said Teton County was the only district that had recently raised an immediate request to the department and that the department was determining how many districts might be affected.
Superintendent Chapman asked the committee to consider rapid support because penalties for noncompliance with SF62 are “steep,” and she said the district can proceed with design immediately but needs funding for construction to meet the timetable for summer and fall programming. Department staff said they will pursue options and keep the committee informed.