When Gov. Jay Inslee allowed a bill to become law without his signature last month, many charter school advocates breathed with relief. The bill attempts to correct problems associated with funding private charter schools, and advocates thought charter schools had been saved.

Inslee’s move, however, was more tactical, and that battle is far from over. The Washington Education Association will file a lawsuit to stop the privately run charter schools from continuing to operate with public tax money.

Charter schools have been a controversial topic in state politics for many years. There are currently about 1,100 students enrolled in eight charter schools throughout the state, which were started after voters narrowly approved the concept in 2012.

Charter schools are smaller than most public schools and appointed, rather than elected, school boards set class policies. Supporters believe they can meet the needs of individual students better with a more tailored approach to student learning that will result in a better education. They have been asking for financial support from state government for years, but until 2012, they never had popular public support. Charter school opponents argue that taking money away from an already underfunded public school system shortchanges the majority of Washington state students. There are approximately 2 million students in the public school system.

After voters approved the allocation of public funds to support the charter schools, the State Supreme Court overturned the vote as unconstitutional because of how the charter schools are governed and funded. The court ruled that the charter schools were not “common” schools under the constitution. The legislative fix that Inslee allowed to become law changed the funding source from the state general fund to a fund from the state lottery.

The controversy has had a political edge for several years, as Republicans tend to support charter schools and Democrats tend to support the public school system. The political power of charter school supporters was evident this past legislative session as both legislators and the public were swamped with television commercials featuring charter school students. To pass the legislation, a small group of Democrats who had charter school advocates in their district voted to support the bill. Democratic House Speaker Frank Chopp and Gov. Inslee were likely looking at the political big picture and thinking several moves down the chess board when Chopp let several members of his caucus vote for the bill and Inslee let it stand rather than wield his veto power.

Chopp protected some of his potentially vulnerable members with the vote, and Inslee took everyone off the hook by allowing the bill to become law. Both leaders knew all Democratic legislators and Inslee would face an entire summer of political “hit” pieces, funded by third-party groups, accusing them of closing schools and hurting children’s education. They neatly sidestepped that problem and, as expected, the Washington Education Association announced they would file a lawsuit against the bill Chopp passed and Inslee allowed to become law.

Which brings us to the key of this maneuvering: The bill Inslee allowed to become law made a change in funding to satisfy the Supreme Court. However, insiders say it did not make a change in the “governing” of charter schools, which would still be governed by private school boards that are not publicly elected. That was the other key reason the Supreme Court found charter schools unconstitutional. Another bill that would have corrected that deficiency did not pass.

No one can predict what the Supreme Court will ultimately decide, and Inslee and Chopp may be taking a big gamble. But if you’re a supporter of public schools, Inslee and Chopp appear to have implemented a well-calculated strategy consistent with a larger goal. What really counts is control of the governor’s office and the state legislature next January, and this is how the game gets played in the “real” world of Olympia politics.

Federal Way resident Bob Roegner is the former mayor of Auburn. He can be reached at bjroegner@comcast.net.