Report card

Public schools are not in the business of morality," a Pennsylvania school superintendent told a reporter, after the Bethlehem Area School Board canceled an appearance by abstinence speaker Pam Stenzel. This ostensibly "value-neutral" decision came just two weeks before Ms. Stenzel's scheduled presentation-to students at the non-neutrally named high schools, Liberty and Freedom.... District of Columbia voucher advocates-now including D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, council member Kevin Chavous, and school board president Peggy Cooper Cafritz-have been making the rounds on Capitol Hill as congressional committees consider legislative action that would give District parents choice. "Reform can only occur through pressure," said Mr. Chavous at a May 9 hearing. "And the best pressure comes by way of school choice."... House passage of a job-training bill last month represents the first time since President Bush announced his faith-based initiative two years ago that either chamber of Congress has voted to lift a federal barrier to participation of faith-based organizations. Consistent with current civil-rights laws, the provision would allow faith-based job-training programs to hire on the basis of religion.... The House education committee has introduced a bill to reform teacher colleges. Trustees for Better Teachers, a new effort by reform-minded college board members, contributes to the debate with its report Educating Teachers: The Best Minds Speak Out. The collection of 10 essays criticizes ed schools for too much emphasis on how teachers teach rather than what they teach.