Alabama is one of 13 states asking a federal court to block the Obama administration's order that public schools allow students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity or risk the loss of federal funding.

Attorney General Luther Strange had announced in May that Alabama was joining other states in suing the Obama administration..

Today, the 13 states applied for a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court in Wichita Falls, Texas, against the federal departments of Education, Justice and Labor.

Strange said school administrators need clarity on the order as the start of a new school year approaches.

"Alabama and the other states are asking the federal court to grant a preliminary injunction of the transgender restroom edict until the court has reached a decision on its legality," Strange said.

Alabama joined Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin in filing the motion for a preliminary injunction Tuesday.

The federal departments of Education and Justice sent a joint letter on May 13 requiring schools receiving Title IX-linked funding to allow students access to restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

Title IX is the federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs that receive federal funding.

In their motion for a preliminary injunction, Alabama and the other states say that Congress did not include gender identity in the law.

Read the states' application for a preliminary injunction.

"The new mandate harms school districts from coast to coast by usurping lawful authority over the regulation of educational institutions and the management of their facilities," the states claim. "It also jeopardizes billions of dollars in federal funding."

The states also claim the federal agencies failed to follow federal law requiring notice and an opportunity for comment before imposing the regulations.

The states are asking the court for a nationwide injunction and ask for expedited consideration of the request because the school year is just weeks away.

Attached to the filing is an affidavit from the Alabama Department of Education describing the federal funds jeopardized by the order, the attorney general's office said.

Alabama has been allocated $2.8 billion in federal funds for education in fiscal year 2016, according to the affidavit.

Updated several times, including at 6:32 p.m. to add more information from the court filing.