The Obama administration released a joint guidance from the Department of Justice and the Department of Education on May 13, detailing how public school educators could create an environment free from discrimination based on sex and/or gender identity.

With Fort Worth ISD already having announced its policy on transgender students, Wingspan contacted Frisco ISD officials for the district’s response to President Obama’s announcement. Their statement sent to Wingspan via email said: “Frisco ISD works with all students and families to create a safe environment within our schools. Our students are protected from discriminatory conditions, including those regarding gender. The District will continue working with students on an individual basis, if needed, and will review the latest federal guidelines to ensure our practices remain consistent with state and federal law.”

The political scene in the state of Texas has been dominated by the issue of transgender bathrooms after Fort Worth ISD’s superintendent Kent Scribner announced a policy for Fort Worth ISD that allows students to use the bathroom in accordance with their gender identity. This decision, coupled with the Obama administration’s guidance on more open access to public school bathrooms for transgender students, created controversy all over the state.

“Without any discussion with parents, board members, principals, and other community leaders, Dr. Scribner’s unilateral action underscores this lack of fitness to hold his position as superintendent,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a prepared statement. “I call upon the parents within the Fort Worth ISD to take immediate steps to repeal this stealthy scheme and remove Dr. Scribner from his post.”

Second-in-command of the Texas executive branch, Patrick has become the face of the fight against Fort Worth ISD and the Obama administration’s transgender bathroom policies, saying he will support Texas becoming the second state to pass a statewide ordinance prohibiting transgender people from using the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity. The first state to do so, North Carolina, passed the law in late March and will now be sued by the federal government on basis of discrimination.

“Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment that allows them to thrive and grow,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement from the Justice Department.  “Our guidance sends a clear message to transgender students across the country: here in America, you are safe, you are protected and you belong – just as you are. We look forward to working with school officials to make the promise of equal opportunity a reality for all of our children.”

The guidelines from the Obama administration stipulate that schools who receive federal funding cannot discriminate against a student’s sex under Title IX guidelines. The guidance specifies that schools must treat gender identity as akin to the student’s sex. The guidelines from the Department of Justice and Department of Education are enforceable by way of funding, as schools who do not follow the guidelines could be subject to removal of federal funding.

“He says he’s going to withhold funding if schools do not follow the policy,” Patrick said, referring to Obama’s policy in a statement. “Well, in Texas, he can keep his 30 pieces of silver. We will not yield to blackmail from the President of the United States.”

Current estimates of the value of 30 pieces of silver range from hundreds of dollars to thousands. However, Texas receives $5.57 billion from the federal government for public education, which amounts to 19 cents of every dollar given to Texas from the national government. This could be a financial blow as Texas public schools already received budget cuts after the state legislature passed an 8 percent budget decrease in 2011, with Frisco ISD itself losing $168 per student.

“The so-called ‘significant guidance’ issued by the Obama Administration raises more questions than it answers, just as it creates concerns among anyone who believes sex is a biological fact and not a personal preference,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. “As billions of dollars appear to be at stake based upon schools’ compliance with this guidance, the Obama Administration must be extremely clear about what is and isn’t allowed, and explain how their actions do not add requirements to the law, as their letter claims.”

Whether funding becomes an issue or not, Fort Worth ISD’s decision and Patrick’s outspokenness on the subject has brought the fight over transgender rights to the state of Texas in an election year, with the Texas GOP inserting their opposition to transgender bathroom rights in their 2016 convention platform, while Texas Democrats did the opposite.

“With this guidance, the Education and Justice Departments are making it crystal clear what schools’ obligations to transgender students are under federal law,” James Esseks, director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Project, said in a press release on the ACLU website. “It’s about time schools understand that transgender students are fully protected. We owe our country’s future leaders the freedom to be themselves during these crucial and formative years.”