Once upon a time, California was ranked among the top five states in the country in public school funding. I know this first hand. Not only was I a student, but my mother was a teacher in California’s well-resourced, high-performing public schools.

Forty years later, the story for our students is a tough one to tell and even tougher to live. How it ends depends entirely on where we place our values as Californians.

Today, California, the fifth largest economy in the world, is no longer one of America’s highest-funded public education systems. Instead, we are among the lowest. We rank 38th in per-pupil spending, nearly $10,000 per student behind the top-funded state in the nation. We rank 45th in pupil-teacher ratios and 48th in pupil-staff ratios. We rank 40th in the percentage of our taxable income spent on education.

Six million public school students sit in classrooms across California, and too many do without too much. Many do without counselors, school nurses and reading specialists. More still do without arts programs and technology.

Worst of all, many are left without the basics, such as well-maintained classrooms and access to credentialed teachers in critical subjects like science, math and special education. Without robust academic programs and essential services that will help to propel all students — not just those in the districts that can afford them — into our dynamic workforce, we are shortchanging generations of children.

Communities are asked to make up the difference. One of my primary responsibilities as Alameda County superintendent of schools is fiscal oversight. I can tell you that 11 Alameda County school districts are attempting to fill funding gaps with local measures this March.

We are not powerless. We can uplift students, teachers and staff, and prioritize their needs. We can reach out to legislators and demand solutions. We can support and vote for funding measures in local communities, proving that we are willing to make students our top priority. We can send the message through action and activism that it’s time for the state to do the same.

We appreciate that Gov. Gavin Newsom understands the pressures that inadequate funding places on school districts. We are encouraged that he is willing to work to put more money into education. Last year’s budget increased base funding to all districts and prioritized relief from fast-rising pension costs that are forcing districts into budget cuts. His January budget proposes another critical funding increase.

But these increases do not keep pace with the growing expenses districts experience.  Significantly more permanent investment is needed. In a place where the cost of living is high, our educational investment gap exacerbates inequities, placing students at a disadvantage.

In Alameda County, we are taking action. We have gathered a unique coalition of education stakeholders — teachers, classified employees, students, parents, superintendents and school board leaders — to form the East Bay Coalition for Public Education. Our objective is to unite in the fight to bring full and fair funding to our schools. It is our collective goal to have California again be one of the top 10 states nationally in per-pupil funding.

One of the most important ways that we can achieve that goal is to educate our communities.

We have declared the week of Feb. 3 to be Fund Education Now Week. Districts across Alameda County will share information and hold events to illustrate the need for increased funding for schools. As we did last spring on the steps of the state Capitol, we will take our advocacy efforts to Sacramento so that legislators understand with absolute clarity that school districts across the state simply cannot keep doing more with less.

The children of California deserve great schools to match the fast-changing, dynamic world in which they will find their place. They deserve more than merely adequate. Together, we intend to see that they get it.

Karen Monroe is Alameda County superintendent of schools.