The Obama administration’s guidance to the nation’s school districts about bathroom use by transgender students “is not an enforcement action,” and instead is just “advice,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest clarified hours after the Education and Justice departments circulated the memo.

The guidance warns: “A school’s failure to treat students consistently with their gender identity may create or contribute to a hostile environment in violation of Title IX,” referring to the 1972 law banning sex discrimination in public schools. It also implies that schools could lose federal funding if they don’t comply.