The damage being done to a fine museum calls for a quick budget fix, then a long-term cure. Send This Story To A Friend.
Lawmakers gather again in Richmond today in the slim hope of breaking the deadlock.
Even if legislators somehow succeed, and agree on budget amendments that will restore some money to valued educational and cultural organizations, they will not have cured one of Virginia's chronic problems. The state must come up with a way to ensure stable funding for the Science Museum, the Virginia Transportation Museum, Explore Park and a host of similar attractions across Virginia that are supposed to be public-private partnerships. The public is proving an unreliable partner. Every year those organizations must plead their case for public support. Yet year after year, they prove their worth in terms of enriching quality of life, stimulating economic activity and, most important, expanding children's educational opportunities.