Six months ago, Washington State’s Supreme Court delivered a devastating blow to thousands of students who had taken advantage of a new public charter school system that voters approved in 2012. Using a poorly defined state constitutional restriction on funding “non-common” schools from the state’s general fund, the court ruled that the state government may not fund these charter schools.

Fortunately, legislators have figured out a way around the ruling, and on a bipartisan basis voted to save Washington’s charter schools. The State Senate passed the bill on Thursday, and the Democratic governor is expected to sign it.