Passing by the elementary and high schools I attended as a youngster was a small yellow bus carrying about six children to a school 12 miles away in Luray. They were black children who by the constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia were prohibited from attending school with white children. I was reminded of that experience this past Sunday which was the 66th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, decision by the United States Supreme Court. In this landmark 1954 Supreme Court case, the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. They ruled that separate facilities were inherently unequal in public education. Among the cases that were heard along with the Brown case was a case coming out of Prince Edward County, Virginia, challenging racial segregation of public schools that I had seen as a young person.

It took more than a decade for black and white children to start attending school together in Virginia and throughout the Nation as state and local government actions and numerous lawsuits sought to reverse the Brown decision. Massive Resistance was the term applied in Virginia to the efforts over a decade of state legislation and court challenges to keep schools segregated.

The Brown decision 66 years ago was as critically important a step in moving towards equality in access to public educational opportunities as it was in helping to ignite the civil rights movement in the United States. Clearly it was a beginning and not a conclusion to the challenges of combating racial inequities in public schools. The concept it helped to foster was that there should be equality in funding among public schools regardless of the zip code in which they might be located.

Performance outcomes by minority students over decades demonstrate that equality of funding is not sufficient. Equal funding suggests that all students start at the same point and given the same support will progress equally. There are many social and economic factors as well as individual differences that affect student performance.

A depiction that has become popular recently demonstrates the differences among equality, equity and justice. Three children of different heights are shown looking over a fence at a sports game. With equality, the three children are given the same height box on which to stand; two children can see the game, but the shortest child cannot see over the fence. With equity the children are given the height box each needs to see over the fence. With justice, the fence barrier to seeing the game is removed.

More than six decades after the Brown decision there are real efforts to move forward on equity funding of our schools. The most recent General Assembly session did more in introducing equity concepts into school funding than ever before. School funding is to be divided along principles that more schools would get the funding they need and not the same as every other school. We cannot let the current economic depression take away that important step in supporting our schools. We have come too far in seeking to achieve equity to let it slip away. With equity in place we can move on to justice!

This is an opinion column by Del. Ken Plum (D), who represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.

Our personal lives will be returning to what we can call a more usual pattern of living over the next several months as the threat of the coronavirus passes or as a treatment or vaccine is developed. There will at some point be an official lifting of the stay-at-home requirement, hopefully when the medical experts say it is safe rather than when an angry crowd insists on it. In the meantime I think it may be useful to review what we have learned over the past several months and to consider what we have learned that will impact the way we live our lives in the future.

Every story will be different, and I ask that you please understand that as I muse about how my life may have been changed I understand that there are many others whose lives have been changed much more deeply than I can ever fully understand or appreciate. My heartfelt sympathy goes out to those who have lost or will lose family or friends to the coronavirus. My strongest appreciation goes to those who have fought the virus day after day as nurses, doctors, police officers, technicians and others who have had to walk into the face of the virus every day to help others while we stayed away at home. I will never look at all those in the health services the same way again. The bravery, the selflessness, and the dedication leave me in awe.

As someone in government service I have long been aware of the inequities in our economies and in some aspects of our community. The new normal has brought to me a renewed commitment to work for equity in our society. As members of the wealthiest nation ever on the earth, we cannot allow to continue the gross disparities in income and wealth that have grown greater for too many years in our history. We cannot allow people to go hungry and to be without health care. No one should feel comfortable returning to the society of the past once the gross inequities of that society have so glaringly been brought to our attention.

Our neighbors and our friends have become closer even as we have had to maintain a social distance. As we can officially return to a more open society, I trust that we can all make a commitment to reject blaming, hating, and bullying that have become much too evident in recent time. I plan to continue to speak out more strongly for justice and compassion and against inequality and hatred.

On a personal note, I hope that the new normal will leave me with a habit of exercising more with the wonderful programs that are available on streaming media, eating less, and being more mindful of the blessed life I live with a greater appreciation of the amazing people who are my family, friends and supporters. I would be pleased to learn of your hopes for the new normal. Write to me at [email protected].

This is an opinion column by Del. Ken Plum (D), who represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.

Warren G. Harding was elected president by a landslide in 1920. He promised in his campaign speeches that he would deliver, in a phrase that he reportedly coined, “a return to normalcy” that people eagerly sought after World War I. Harding had a scandal-plagued administration and marital affairs that contributed to rumors that his wife poisoned him leading to the heart attack that killed him before the end of his term. But Harding liked to be liked, and his “normalcy” phrase captured the mood of the people.

Today there is certainly a desire to return to life as normal from the quarantine existence we are experiencing during the pandemic. There are politicians who suggest that a quick return to life as we knew it before the coronavirus is possible and that people should be “liberated” to live without the restrictions that governors have had to impose for public health and safety. At the reconvened session of the General Assembly last week there was a background blare of horns sounding as cars and trucks circled Capitol Square driven by protestors who wanted to let us know that they wanted restrictions lifted.

It would be a tragic mistake to lift health and safety restrictions too early based on politics rather that reliable scientific evidence. Every individual needs to act in a responsible way with social distancing, hand washing, and face masks, and we need to encourage others to do the same. There is no constitutional right to spread your germs around.

The economic crisis brought on in part by the pandemic is another issue that will be addressed in future columns.

An activity that I believe would be helpful to undertake while we are hunkered down is to review the old “normalcy” under which we grew accustomed to living and to ask ourselves if we have learned things over the past several weeks that might be applied to life in the future. Recently there has been a significant reduction in air pollution. We drive our vehicles less. Could we continue to make a list of what we need and make fewer vehicular trips to get those items. Walking and bicycling are on the increase that will contribute to better health in the community.

There has been a strengthening of community as neighbors support each other more, and there has been a wonderful outpouring of contributions and help to those in need. Many are looking at entertainment differently as there is a need to be more inventive and creative in entertaining ourselves.

Technology is being used more frequently to deliver information and services that should be continued into the future. Do not simply go back to the old way if we have been forced to recognize better ways to accomplish a purpose. Certainly teachers and public education have gained support by those who have had to teach their children at home!

I share the desire that a life without restrictions return as soon as medical science says it is safe to do so. In the meantime, let’s think about what we have learned through all of this that might make our life be even better in the future. Share your ideas with me at [email protected].

This is an opinion column by Del. Ken Plum (D), who represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.

My columns written over the couple of weeks after the ending of the annual General Assembly session this year as you may remember were filled were excitement and superlatives about the great work that had been accomplished this year. I even described the budget that was passed for the next two years as being the best on which I had voted over my legislative career. Many goals including to better fund education, mental health, homeless prevention, environment and other areas were not only met but were funded at historic levels.

Then suddenly, “poof,” the good news ended as the world sank into the COVID-19 crisis and the resulting economic collapse. Monies that had been projected to be received to support the very real needs of the Commonwealth as reflected in the budget we passed evaporated. The General Assembly is scheduled to meet on April 22 in a reconvened session to consider the Governor’s recommendations on legislation we passed including amendments that are needed to keep the budget in balance. Extra precautions are being taken for the meeting because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the meeting will be very painful for the decisions that must be made on the budget. There are no good choices.

Virginia has an all-time high in rainy-day reserve funds of about two billion dollars. Those funds are built up in the good times to serve as a cushion in challenging times like now. Ideally, reserve funds would be drawn on over the duration of the recession rather than being fully exhausted at the beginning, but the unknown is the length of the economic recession. Virginia has historically taken a very conservative approach to dipping into its reserves and is likely to once again with the high level of uncertainty about the future of the economy. While federal funds are expected to be made available to the states, the amount and timeline for assistance may be even more unpredictable than the future strength of the economy.

The tendency in budgeting is often to make reductions in those items last added to the budget and to protect more established programs. Such an approach at this time would put in jeopardy an increase in the minimum wage that affects state employees as well as those in the private sector. We are way past time to increase the measly $7.25 minimum wage that we had approved to go to $9.50 in January. I agree with the argument of advocates who insist that increasing the minimum wage would help with economic recovery because that increase would go immediately back into the economy as it is spent on groceries, rent, transportation and other necessities. The same argument applies to salary increases for teachers and state employees. These workers with the lowest of incomes should not bear the brunt of the declining economy.

More difficult decisions face us in a budget that proposes increases to programs that help the homeless, increase funding for preschool education, expand programs for persons with special needs, and expand environmental protection among others. There are no good choices!