Given the constant lamentations that partisanship in Washington is worse than ever before, it’s worth noting an instance of bipartisan agreement, particularly one that doesn’t involve Republicans capitulating to the Left.

Tomorrow night, Senator Diane Feinstein is joining Speaker John Boehner at a fundraising dinner benefitting The Consortium of Catholic Academies, which runs elementary schools in some of the toughest neighborhoods in Washington D.C.

The four private schools in this network serve more than 800 students, the majority of whom come from single-parent households. Four out of ten of these students live at or below the poverty line. Just one-third of the students are themselves Catholic. 

The results the Consortium schools get stand in contrast to the consistently disappointing results posted by D.C. public schools. All eighth graders who graduated from the Consortium of Catholic Academies graduated on-time last year, and 90 percent were accepted at competitive private high schools or magnet public schools.

A Democrat publicly supporting private schools in Washington D.C. isn’t exactly the equivalent of one who breaks ranks to support repealing Obamacare, or even the equivalent of a Democrat who supports government-funded school vouchers. Senator Feinstein, in fact, is following in the tradition of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, who was a supporter of the Consortium of Catholic Academies. But it’s still a nice occasion to see members of Congress, including a liberal Democrat, salute the good that religious organizations can do in helping a community. It’s a start anyway.