Federal File: Backing off

As next week's deadline approaches, it appears that all the states have passed the gun-free-schools legislation mandated by a 1994 federal law or are on their way to doing so.

That should come as a relief to officials at the Department of Education, who were busy last week devising plans to deal with recalcitrant states--without cutting off their federal education aid.

Last year's reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education ACT included a provision requiring states to pass legislation by this Oct. 20 that mandates a one-year expulsion of any student who brings...