Nearly 80,000 educators in dozens of school districts across the state joined forces Tuesday to launch an unprecedented campaign for better wages.

Educators in San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, Hayward and West Contra Costa County joined 32 school districts across the state to demand higher wages and benefits, fully staffed schools and safe campuses in what the California Teachers Association dubbed the “We Can’t Wait Campaign.”

David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, pointed out that California ranks in the bottom half of states for pupil spending and 48th in the nation for access to school counselors, despite being the fifth largest economy in the world.

“We are facing a crisis in our public schools. There are not enough educators on our school campuses,” Goldberg said. “The resources we do have are constantly under attack and threats of cuts… So if we don’t act now on behalf of California students (and) educators in school, when will the time be right? We can’t wait any longer.”

The demands come at a precarious moment in public education. California students continue to trail their peers nationwide in reading and math, executive orders from the Trump administration are causing panic among immigrant communities and leading to drops in student attendance, and districts strapped for cash are being forced to consider school closures and steep budget cuts.

Lance Christensen, president of business advocacy group California Policy Partners, who lost an election to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, said the timing of educators’ demands for higher wages is “not only unreasonable” but also not “self-reflective.”

“When less than 40% of our kids are at grade-level proficiency in math and English language arts, it makes me wonder what the unions are trying to advocate for in terms of better benefits and salaries. I think they have it backwards,” Christensen said.