A 'Believe in Education' rally was held today as the community says they showed up to fight for the future of Nevada education.

We spoke to educators, students, and administrators and they all say the same thing, they want education to be a top priority in Nevada.

A lot of them say the changes start with appropriate funding. 

Calen Evans, the President of the Washoe Education Association explains "Education impacts every facet of our society, it's the cornerstone of our community. We for decades have been at the bottom of every funding metric." He continues to say Washoe County is home to one of the least funded school districts in the country, and participants at today's event want to change that.

They say they want lawmakers to make sure they're doing everything they can to address the lack of funding in or public schools.

Beth Smith, the WCSD Board of Trustees President says during her speech "We must demand that public education is the number one priority of our lawmakers." Evans adds "Putting millions...hundreds of millions in an education rainy day fund when it's absolutely pouring outside, and we have students and educators in our community that are drowning is not the bold action we need." He says if Nevada schools had enough funding, they would be able to have enough qualified educators to fil our public schools.

Teachers we spoke to say many educators are leaving schools because of the districts funding issues.

Gilbert Lenz, an Agricultural Mechanics Teacher at North Valleys High School explains "We need more funding for education, we're not getting it we need more teachers we're not getting that. It's time to stand up and fight as educators and stand up and gather together as professional and demand respect." Teri Moore, a 2nd Grade Teacher points out "Historically it's been a lot of women in education, so it's been very easy to devalue and under pay them." Lenz adds "You can't build Nevada's future without teachers."

Educators also say Nevada is not getting a lot of new people out of college who want to teach in Washoe County, which they say will hurt Nevada in the future. 

Moore says, "The concern for our kids and our educators and for the future is not there." Evans mentions "And we talk about the importance of supporting our youth and the idea that this is our future, but you know we're not doing enough to make sure our future has a chance or opportunity like children across the country." Moore emphasizes "Nevada is getting an 'F' in education."