July 24, 2017

The Honorable Joe Straus

Texas House of Representatives
P.O. Box 2910
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78768

Members of the El Paso County Delegation

Texas House of Representatives and Senate
P.O. Box 2910
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78768

Dear Speaker Straus and members of the El Paso County Delegation:

The Board of the El Paso Independent School District urges you to oppose any legislation that seeks to
regulate bathroom usage in public schools.

EPISD is committed to providing a welcoming and safe environment for every student. Towards that end,
we have adopted a policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment of any student on the basis of race,
color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, disability, age, gender stereotyping and perceived sexuality,
perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, or any other basis prohibited
by law. These protections from discrimination and harassment clearly extend to our transgender students.
The passage of a privacy bill to regulate bathroom use would violate our commitment to these transgender
students as enshrined in our non-discrimination policy.

EPISD administrators are able to accommodate students and families, for any number of reasons, in order
to ensure privacy and dignity to each child that we serve. We strongly believe that the best way to serve
our students and to ensure their safety and privacy is to allow decisions to be made by those closest to
them to include local ISDs, the administrators who manage our schools and a childs parents/guardians.

We thank you for your support for all public school students and for local decision-making.

Sincerely,

Juan E. Cabrera, Jr.

Superintendent