Students in Seattle went back to class on schedule this week. Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Education Association (SEA) struck a contract deal just before the union’s midnight strike deadline, and roughly 50,000 kids didn’t lose a single day.

The Seattle Times reported that the two sides came to terms just before Tuesday’s midnight strike deadline, though the specifics weren’t released right away. The deal needs to be ratified by both SEA membership and the Seattle School Board. Other outlets have reported guaranteed raises over three years, new health-benefit accounts, and added staffing commitments. All this from a district that says it’s still working through a real budget shortfall. Parents and taxpayers deserve a close look at what this contract actually costs and whether it’s good for kids, or just the price of avoiding a walkout.

But here’s the part of the story that’s easy to miss: the strike SEA was threatening would have been illegal.

Washington has barred public employee strikes for decades. It’s in the statute, and it’s in six decades of court rulings. It’s also in opinion after opinion from the state’s own Public Employment Relations Commission. So as SEA moved toward a strike vote, Freedom Foundation joined the Center for American Rights in writing Superintendent Benjamin Shuldiner and SEA President Ibijoke Idowu directly. The letter spelled out the law and reminded both of them that the district could go straight to court for an injunction, and that defying one carries real teeth: fines for the union and even jail time for its leaders.

The district and the union settled this themselves, not us, and whether it’s a good deal for Seattle families is still an open question. But Freedom Foundation got in front of this one. SEA leadership knew, in writing, exactly what they were risking if they walked. That’s the kind of pressure we’ll keep applying whenever a public union thinks it can break the law to win at the bargaining table.