Today the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education released a letter of significant guidance prompting schools to allow students who identify as transgender to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with at publicly funded schools under Title IX regulations.

Title IX states that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Public schools could lose some or all public funding if they fail to adhere to the guidance. The Department of Justice now views failure to adhere as an infringement of student rights guaranteed by Title IX.

“The Departments interpret Title IX to require that when a student or the student’s parent or guardian […] notifies the school administration that the student will assert a gender identity that differs from previous representations or records, the school will begin treating the student consistent with the student’s gender identity,” the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education said. It is still up to schools, districts, and state legislators to determine what is appropriate notification of a gender transition.

A guidance document does not hold the weight of law, though determining its concurrence with previously stated Title IX regulations gives it significant influence over public school policy. “Guidance documents, used properly […] enhance fairness by providing the public clear notice of the line between permissible and impermissible conduct while ensuring equal treatment of similarly situated parties,” the Final Bulletin for Agency Good Guidance Practices said.