Teachers, students, parents and administrators in the Moniteau School District should be proud of their school's improvement in Annual Yearly Progress tests. And it didn't hurt to have Gov. Ed Rendell mention Moniteau's achievement at a Harrisburg news conference.

Rendell was commenting on statewide results of testing related to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and he praised Moniteau for doubling the percentage of students proficient in math at their own grade level or above, to 82 percent, from 40 percent.

The district boosted reading scores to 80 percent from 50 percent, according to the State Department of Education.

Moniteau was also able to reduce by 78 percent the number of students scoring "below basic" in math and reading.

Dolores Bliss, elementary school principal, and Maynard "Pancho" Harvey, secondary school principal represented Moniteau at the governor's Tuesday news conference in Harrisburg.

Across the county, all seven school districts saw progress, reaching targets mandated by the law. In the Butler School District, however, the group of students in the high school classified as economically disadvantaged fell short of targets.

Butler officials developed a plan over the summer to address the lagging test results for that group of students.

While standardized tests remain a topic of debate, they do provide some way to gauge student progress. It's encouraging to see Moniteau's strong improvement, and the additional planning at Butler to boost one group's lagging performance in the next round of tests.

Public schools and teachers face serious challenges in bringing students with a wide range of backgrounds and home-life situations up to mandated standards. Cheers to all those teachers, administrators — as well as students and parents — working to make that happen.

Gov. Ed Rendell reacted with appropriate shock and embarrassment at news reports that a private firm under contract with the state Homeland Security department was documenting protestors at public meetings involving Marcellus Shale gas drilling as well as other groups.But Rendell is not doing enough. Although he says the $125,000 contract with Philadelphia-based Institute of Terrorism Research and Resources has been canceled, he says no state officials will lose their jobs and there will be no investigation.That's wrong, and several people, including leaders of environmental groups and a member of Pittsburgh city council, argue that there should be an investigation. They're right.Considering the amount of money the gas drilling industry is spending on campaign donations and lobbying, it is worth determining if anybody or any group involved in this embarrassing episode has financial links to the industry.The story became news after James Powers Jr., the state's Homeland Security director, emailed a memo to an opponent of gas drilling instead of Powers' intended audience of gas- drilling supporters. The email was then given to two news outlets.Powers should be required to testify about his hiring of the institute and the entire scope of its reporting. It should also be revealed if there are political connections between the institute and any Harrisburg officials, including Rendell. It also would be worth looking for connections between the institute and the natural gas industry.Rendell was right to call the monitoring "embarrassing" and "ludicrous." But this incident should not be swept under the rug.

The Seneca Valley School Board approved a major spending plan on Tuesday, but the public has no idea of how much money is being spent or any details of the spending.Seneca's board, like most school boards, approved details of a tentative labor contract with teachers without sharing details with taxpayers. A district spokeswoman said the union membership was expected to vote on the agreement Monday.Taxpayers should demand an end to this common practice. Taxpayers should have some input regarding spending on teacher contracts, instead of only being able to react to the news after the agreement is approved by both sides.Taxpayers should know the percent of annual raises being offered in the contract <I>before</I> it is agreed to by the board. Taxpayers should know how much money teachers will be asked to contribute toward their health insurance <I>before</I> the agreement is approved by the board.Seneca's current contract was approved in April 2008 after district teachers walked off the job on October 2007. That contract required teachers to contribute $50 per pay period toward their health care coverage. The agreement also awarded teachers annual pay increases of 4.3 percent over five years of the contract.Taxpayers should look at the teachers' health care contributions and annual raises in light of their own situations. Having done that, taxpayers might have something to say to school board members regarding a new agreement.When asked why the union would not provide details of the pact, Butch Santicola, teachers union spokesman with the Pennsylvania State Education Association said, "We don't want this thing to be undermined."So, it would undermine the process to let taxpayers know details of what they will be paying for? That's wrong, and an attitude that taxpayers and voters should work to change.