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Consortium of State School Boards Associations

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Consortium of State School Boards Associations
Consortium of State School Boards Associations.jpg
Basic facts
Location:Norman, Oklahoma
Type:501(c)(3)
Top official:Kathy McFarland, Executive Director
Year founded:2022
Website:Official website

The Consortium of State School Boards Associations (COSSBA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Norman, Oklahoma that describes itself as a "non-partisan, national alliance dedicated to sharing resources and information to support, promote and strengthen state school boards associations as they serve their local school districts and board members."[1] The COSSBA was founded in 2022.[1]

Background

The COSSBA was founded in 2022 by 22 state school boards associations.[2] A majority of the state associations that founded COSSBA were formerly affiliated with the National School Boards Association (NSBA) but terminated their membership in the NSBA between October 2021 and June 2022. To view a timeline of those events, click here. The organization's inaugural national conference was held from March 30 to April 2, 2023, in Tampa, Florida.[3]

As of September 2025, the COSSBA website stated:[1]

“

COSSBA is voluntary, non-partisan federation of state school boards associations focused on:

  • Support for the work of state school boards associations through effective staff collaboration, networking, and shared resources
  • Networking opportunities for local school board members and association board members to enhance the effectiveness of their work
  • Tracking and advocating for federal education issues and policies impacting local school boards and public education aligned with a statement of core values and beliefs of COSSBA
  • Federal judicial advocacy impacting local control and public education[4]
 ”

Members

As of September 2025, the following state school boards associations were members of COSSBA:[5]

* Founding member[2]

Leadership

As of September 2025, the following individuals held leadership positions at the Consortium of State School Boards Associations:[6]

  • Kathy McFarland, Executive Director
  • Debb Oliver, Chief Operating Officer
  • Glenn Blind, Director of Events and Meeting Management
  • Tan Lewis, Chief Financial Officer and Human Relations
  • Dean Langdon, Director of Member Services
  • Julie Feasel, Director of Communications and Government Relations
  • Donna McBride, Director of Special Programs
  • Roxy Laramee, Marketing Specialist
  • Alize Doherty, Governance and Ops Specialist


As of September 2025, the Consortium of State School Boards Associations' Board of Directors included the following individuals:[7]

  • Robert Stwalley, Chair
  • Shane Rader, Chair Elect
  • Vernon Travis, Past Chair
  • Kathy McFarland, Executive Director
  • Sabrina Backer, Board Member
  • Cornelius Ball, Appointee Director
  • Barrett Christina, Board Member
  • Ege Cordell, Board Member
  • Steve Corona, Board Member
  • Mark Harms, Appointee Director
  • Steve Hyer, Board Member
  • Bruce Jolley, Board Member
  • Katherine Lemoine, Board Member
  • D.T Magee, Board Member
  • Lance Melton, Board Member
  • Cardell Patillo, Board Member
  • Thomas Patterson, Appointee Director
  • Sally Smith, Board Member
  • Scott Walter, Board Member

Work and activities

Advocacy

As of September 2025, the COSSBA website stated: "COSSBA’s non-partisan Federal Advocacy concentrates on a few major federal issues with widespread impact on the nation’s public schools and students. Our advocacy position statements are adopted annually by leaders of the member state school boards associations, requiring a two-thirds majority support. They serve as a unifying agenda on behalf of American public school students."[8]

COSSBA's website listed the following advocacy priorities:

“
  • Prioritizing K-12 public education as schools of choice
  • Increased funding for K-12 education
  • Teacher and principal training and recruitment (Title II)
  • Broadband, connectivity, cybersecurity, and E-Rate
  • Child nutrition programs
  • Individuals With Disabilities Eduction Act (IDEA)[4]
 ”

Notable endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope. Know of one we missed? Click here to let us know.

Finances

The following is a breakdown of the Consortium of State School Boards Associations' revenues and expenses from 2022 to 2024. The information comes from ProPublica

Consortium of State School Boards Associations financial data 2022-2024
Year Revenue Expenses
2024 $2.69 million $2.5 million
2023 $1.82 million $1.55 million
2022 $492,423 $38,457

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Consortium of State School Boards Associations, "About COSSBA," accessed September 5, 2025 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "about" defined multiple times with different content
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kentucky School Boards Association, "COSSBA," accessed September 5, 2025
  3. ↑ Consortium of State School Boards Associations, "COSSBA Inaugural Conference," accessed February 13, 2023
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  5. ↑ Consortium of State School Boards Associations, "COSSBA Members," accessed February 13, 2023
  6. ↑ Consortium of State School Boards Associations, "Staff," accessed September 5, 2025
  7. ↑ Consortium of State School Boards Associations, "Board," accessed September 5, 2025
  8. ↑ COSSBA, "Federal Advocacy," accessed September 5, 2025
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