Fifty years after the Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional, America's public campuses are a long way from equal, according to jurists, educators and community leaders who gathered in Sacramento on Monday to discuss the legacy of the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision.

"It's not about 'separate but equal' anymore," said Rudy Castruita, San Diego County's superintendent of schools. "Equity and access is the name of the game now."

In California, poor students of color are much more likely to attend rundown, segregated schools with less-qualified teachers than their wealthy, white counterparts, said Rocio Cordoba with the Institute for Democracy, Education and Access at UCLA.

"California schools have become racially isolated and deficient," Cordoba said. "This state has not realized the promise of the Brown decision."

Celebrations and commemorations marking the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision were held throughout the country Monday, with dignitaries lauding the great societal strides made toward integration since the ruling.

But at the Sacramento symposium convened by the Judicial Council of California, panelists raised a call for more action.

They said economic segregation is still rampant, with many minorities lacking access to quality schools. That in turn leads to fewer quality job opportunities, which in turn hinders homeownership. The result: a seemingly endless cycle of segregated neighborhoods and segregated schools.

Homeownership is one of the most significant means for Americans to build wealth, said Terrence Roberts, a psychology professor at Antioch University in Los Angeles and a desegregation consultant for several school districts across the nation. People of color are still struggling to catch up because for many years they were denied the opportunity to own homes, he said.

As a result, "the income gap is closing but the wealth gap is growing," he said.

Roberts was a 15-year-old 11th-grader when, as a member of the Little Rock Nine, he was one of the first African American students to integrate Central High School in the Arkansas capital in 1957. Despite violent and vocal opposition from the local white community and from Gov. Orval Faubus, who ordered National Guard troops to surround the school and keep African American students out, Roberts said it was important for the students to stand their ground.

He said it's equally important for people to take a stand today, by voting and making their voices heard to change what he sees as an unfair system.

"We have to make ourselves agents of change," he said. "Until then, we're going to be stuck where we are."

Castruita of the San Diego County Office of Education has instituted changes and met with great success.

While superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District in the mid-1990s, Castruita said he helped to shrink the dropout rate and increase the college acceptance rate.

He said early education, parent involvement and high expectations are the keys to reforming public education. Poor children of color especially must have access to preschool, he said, in order to shore up their vocabulary and reading skills before they enter kindergarten.

In San Diego, Castruita is providing every household with a video or DVD explaining the steps necessary for students to enroll in the state university system.

"I don't want our kids to work at McDonald's; I want them to own McDonald's," he said. "We should expect greatness from all our kids."