A LAW on the books in the District since the mid-1990s gives charter schools first priority to vacated public school buildings. Sadly, that hasn’t prevented city officials from hoarding the properties, selling them off to private interests or, most appalling, letting them rot while deserving charter schools scrounge for space or turn students away. So the decision by Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) to make more room for the District’s growing charter sector is an encouraging, albeit overdue, step forward.

WHY DIDN’T Congress know earlier that the Internal Revenue Service had targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny? In days of hearings, lawmakers have tried to get a satisfactory answer from witnesses under oath. They haven’t succeeded.

FOUR YEARS almost to the day since outlining a vision of how to fight terrorism, President Obama traveled Thursday to the National Defense University to deliver a self-evaluation, course correction and proposed way forward. The speech offered some valuable explanations of administration action and opened the door to constructive negotiation with Congress, while leaving unanswered some key questions.