Editing Desegregation busing (section)

=== Richmond, Virginia ===
In April 1971, in the case ''Bradley v. Richmond School Board'', Federal District Judge [[Robert R. Merhige,&nbsp;Jr.]], ordered an extensive citywide busing program in [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], Virginia. When the massive busing program began in the fall of 1971, parents of all races complained about the long rides, hardships with transportation for extracurricular activities, and the separation of siblings when elementary schools at opposite sides of the city were "paired", (i.e., splitting lower and upper elementary grades into separate schools). The result was further white flight to private schools and to suburbs in the neighboring counties of [[Henrico County, Virginia|Henrico]] and [[Chesterfield County, Virginia|Chesterfield]] that were predominantly white. In January 1972, Merhige ruled that students in Henrico and Chesterfield counties would have to be bused into the City of Richmond in order to decrease the high percentage of black students in Richmond's schools. This order was overturned by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 6, 1972, barring forced busing schemes that made students cross county/city boundaries. (Note: Since 1871, Virginia has had independent cities which are not politically located within counties, although some are completely surrounded geographically by a single county. This distinctive and unusual arrangement was pivotal in the Court of Appeals decision overturning Merhige's ruling). The percentage of white students in Richmond city schools declined from 45 to 21 percent between 1960 and 1975 and continued to decline over the next several decades. By 2010 white students accounted for less than 9 percent of student enrollment in Richmond.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.richmond.com/news/latest-news/report-schools-segregation-by-race-income-worsening/article_a05050c1-9ea8-5ebd-b00a-239aab565e7f.html|title = Report: Schools segregation by race, income worsening| date=14 March 2013 }}</ref> This so-called "white flight" prevented Richmond schools from ever becoming truly integrated.<ref>"[http://www.vahistorical.org/civilrights/busing.htm School Busing – The Civil Rights Movement in Virginia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020030353/http://www.vahistorical.org/civilrights/busing.htm |date=2007-10-20 }}", Virginia Historical Society</ref> A number of assignment plans were tried to address the non-racial concerns, and eventually, most elementary schools were "unpaired".