Over the last five years it has been my utmost pleasure to serve families in Baltimore County’s Second District as their representative on the board of education. These have been dynamic times as the county becomes a 21st Century community. Our challenges today arise not simply from new growth but from managing aging facilities, systems and policies.

In June, I stepped down as vice-chair of the school board to pursue the Democratic nomination for County Council in the Second District. During my tenure, we focused on ensuring an excellent education for every student regardless of background. I fought for funding for upgrades to older facilities, expanded foreign language instruction and cultural competency training. I sought more funding for English for Speakers of Other Languages instruction, for social workers and school counselors, and for pupil personnel workers. I supported better pay and more classroom autonomy for teachers. As a result, our system is meeting new challenges head on with success. I take with me five key lessons from my time on the board as I open a new chapter in a life of public service.

First, I learned the difference between seeking equality and seeking equity from a policy standpoint. Our world is one of persistent and growing inequality. Our public schools are intended to serve as an equalizer, creating a meritocratic society. However, the segregation of our schools by race and income poses a structural barrier to true equality. Education equity calls on us to craft policy with an approach that is not just equal, but appropriately tailored to overcome disparities.

Second, central to the equity conversation is acknowledging that it is not just race and income that play too great a role in predicting education outcomes. Under my direction, the board passed Maryland’s first equity policy to close achievement gaps and overcome disparities based on “race, special education status, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity (including gender expression), English language learner (ELL) status or socio-economic status.” To address these disparities is, to borrow the words of Harvard Professor Paul Reville in a recent appearance before Maryland’s Kirwan Commission, not just a moral imperative, but an economic one.

Third, success requires that we have the right voices at the table. Equity is about all of our underrepresented groups and their families. These inequities in our society can either begin or end in the classroom, and we have to care about diversity of representation if we are going to build an equitable society. We need representation to advocate for our Jewish and Muslim students, our LGBTQ+ students and our girls, whose exclusion from STEM and other male-dominated fields has historically begun in public school classrooms. These students deserve voices who have shared in their personal experiences, a kind of perspective that simply cannot be acquired any other way.

Fourth, though the board is meant to be insulated somewhat from the political fray, in practice it has become a proxy battleground between the parties, where ideological differences collide over who gets a good quality education and what that education entails. Politics will increasingly determine whether hardworking teachers will get the pay and the say that they deserve. Politics will determine whether we can continue to act proactively, as the board did during my tenure by investing in the Schools for our Future and STAT programs. Politics will determine whether equity is an aspirational goal or a core priority.

Fifth, given our challenges, it is even more essential that we celebrate our successes. Take graduation rates, for example. Between 2013 and 2016, graduation rates improved by almost 3 percent in Baltimore County Public Schools. In addition to improvement in the overall rates, the racial achievement gap also closed during the same period. This is a historic achievement in the 23rd largest public school district in the United States. This shows that Baltimore County can lead the way in Maryland and nationwide by taking proactive action to address the challenges of a changing society.

Overall, I learned that our best days are ahead of us if we stay focused on prioritizing education, operating our government in a smart and responsive way, and on building inclusive opportunity. Next year the seven district representatives of the school board will be elected for the first time in county history, creating a "hybrid" board of seven elected and four appointed members. I am hopeful that the new hybrid board will continue the course we have set that has achieved success. The future of our county communities depend on it.

Marisol A. Johnson is a Democratic candidate for Baltimore County Council and a former member of the Board of Education for Baltimore County Public Schools; her email is info@electmarisoljohnson.com.