Elected and school officials from Roanoke, Roanoke County, Vinton, Craig County and Salem said this morning that state leaders are making budget decisions that will cripple local governments and public schools for years to come.

“These budget cuts, I think as we all know, will be a major step back, not just to 2006, 2007 and even further, these will have well lasting effects into the future,” said David Trinkle, a Roanoke city councilman and chairman of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission.

The push likely comes too late, as the state budget is in the hands of a small group of appointed conferees working to negotiate a compromise between the Senate and House of Delegates by Saturday.

Trinkle acknowledged “it’s probably too late this year” to convince state legislators to consider tax increases that would raise more money for schools and other services, but said Virginia citizens should start pushing now to avoid more cuts in the future.

Richard Flora, a Roanoke County supervisor and Craig County administrator, said the General Assembly has “abandoned public education” in an effort to avoid raising taxes.

“We’ve all hear they’re not going to raise taxes. They’re not going to raise taxes. The bottom line is they are raising taxes,” Flora said. “They’re doing it indirectly. They’re not doing it directly in Richmond, but forcing localities to raise taxes just to meet the mandated funding requirement the state has put on us.”

In Roanoke, the city government is facing a $10.4 million budget shortfall, and school are facing a deficit of between $4 million and $16 million.

Earlier this year, councilman Court Rosen proposed raising the city meals tax by 2 cents – which would raise an estimated $4.4 million – and dedicating that money to schools.

But Mayor David Bowers said this morning, “That may not be enough. That may not be enough to save our Roanoke city schools and the progress we’ve made over the last few years.”

Bowers said that when every locality faces budget problems, it becomes a state issue and one that should be addressed by the governor and General Assembly. He said a failure to do so would be on par with Massive Resistance – the push by state officials in the 1950s to resist federally enforced integration of public schools.

“It was the wrong decision then and we paid for it over the years,” Bowers said. “I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, this is a massive resistance in our time. This is a reckless adherence to ideology by our governor and by our General Assembly in the face of reality and dire consequences and the crisis for Virginia schools.”

The Roanoke School Board even voted 5-2 earlier this week to look into a lawsuit against the state for an alleged breach of state constitutional rights.

The Roanoke City Council had briefly discussed pursuing similar legal action, but after consulting with the city attorney, Vice Mayor Sherman Lea said earlier this week he’d probably not push for that option.

“All you do for the most part is give yourself a black eye,” Lea said. “It’s long, it’s tedious, it’s expensive and it doesn’t get you anywhere, for the most part.”