Federal File: Points of light; Secretarial advice; Freshman

kudos Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander last week announced an "education volunteers'' initiative to encourage employees of the Education Department to work in their local schools.

Under Mr. Alexander's plan, the agency will essentially pay an employee for half the time spent doing volunteer work in schools, with a limit of four hours in a four-week period.

For example, if an employee agreed to work in a school for an eight-hour day, he or she would only have to use four...