Grant funding would help Colorado’s public schools provide free tampons and other feminine hygiene products in campus bathrooms if a bill to be introduced in the state legislature next year — at the urging of students at Arvada West High School — becomes law.

But not everyone is supportive of the idea, with the Jefferson County Republican Party taking to Facebook last week to call bill sponsor Brianna Titone, a Democrat representing Arvada, “too extreme.”

Students in Arvada West’s Intersectional Feminist Club took it upon themselves to get period products stocked in their school’s bathrooms, but they didn’t realize how much work it would require. The students made the request in May and the school’s administrators approved it in September — but not without some protest, Arvada West senior Julia Trujillo said.

“This has been so much more of a daunting process than we ever expected,” the 17-year-old said. “We thought we could bring the problem up to the administration and see it resolved right away.”

While students have access to feminine hygiene products in nurses’ offices, they’re not easily accessible and sometimes students are too embarrassed to ask for them. Some schools, such as Denver’s East High, have dispensers in bathrooms for the products, but many don’t, Trujillo said.

“It’s important that all students have access to free feminine hygiene products just because there are a lot of students who can’t afford feminine hygiene products and that can really impact their ability to be active and go to school,” she said.

Administrators first opposed the idea because of cost, and then for custodial reasons. So the students found a solution, Trujillo said. The club raised $1,300 for the dispensers and a donor provided a year’s worth of products.

Jefferson County Public Schools were closed Wednesday and an administrator at Arvada West could not be reached for comment.

School bathrooms are stocked with toilet paper and no one bats an eye, but when it comes to products that half the student population needs, they’re viewed differently, Trujillo said.

This is not the first time access to feminine hygiene products has come before lawmakers in Colorado. This year, a bill that required corrections and human services facility to provide period products at no cost to those in custody was passed into law, and Denver eliminated the sales and use tax on feminine hygiene products purchased in the city.

Titone’s bill, which is still being drafted, wouldn’t just provide funding for public schools for the products from the state’s budget — the objective is to create a grant program that will give higher priority to schools that have high numbers of students qualifying for free and reduced-price lunches.

“Those will be getting to kids that have the most trouble buying feminine hygiene products,” Titone said.

She’s looking for philanthropic organizations that will help fund the grant program, knowing the state doesn’t have the budget to pick up the tab.

Titone got involved after the Arvada West students contacted her. Of all the lawmakers the students tried to connect with, only two responded, and only Titone was willing to carry a bill, Trujillo said.

“Our leaders and policymakers generally overlook women’s issues and issues that affect marginalized communities because so few of them fall in those communities,” Trujillo said.

When Jefferson County GOP leaders learned about the bill, they wrote on Facebook that if the legislation was indicative of the 2020 session, “we’re in for a wild ride!”

“Rep. Brianna Titone (D-Arvada) will be bringing a bill to require public schools to stock feminine hygiene products!” the post stated. “Yep, you heard that right! Now, even feminine hygiene products should be FREE and the government should provide them! #wowjustwow #tooextremetitone”

Titone responded, clarifying where the funding would come from and noting that public schools are not required to participate if they don’t want to.

“I’m really always looking to make bills that serve all people as much as I can that are not partisan,” she told The Denver Post. “And I really try to do things that are for the good of the people in my district as well as the people of Colorado.”

The county GOP supports having feminine hygiene products available in schools but doesn’t believe the state should play a role in it, party Chairwoman Denise Mund said in an interview.

“We believe that personal responsibility is a tenet of the Republican Party and that there should be a means other than through the state government to ensure that these are available to girls,” she said.

Titone is working with women’s groups across the state who want to destigmatize periods and help break down barriers, but without the student’s leadership, she the bill wouldn’t have happened.