About Us
Founded by state school boards associations in late 2021, the Consortium of State School Boards Associations (COSSBA) is 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. 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
○ 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
Our Guiding Principles
○ Focused and responsive
○ Transparent and efficient
○ Reflective and relevant
○ Representative and accountable
○ Reflective and relevant
○ Representative and accountable
Our Governance
COSSBA is governed by a Board of Directors which is comprised of 18 voting members and one non-voting ex-officio. The composition of the board is as follows:
○ The three active officers of the Consortium, and
○ Eight board members of Member State’s Board of Directors, and
○ Four Executive Directors of Member States, and
○ Three appointees, and
○ The Consortium Executive Director in an ex-officio capacity.
○ Four Executive Directors of Member States, and
○ Three appointees, and
○ The Consortium Executive Director in an ex-officio capacity.
Key Areas of Focus
○ To support the work of state school boards associations through effective
staff collaboration, networking and shared resources.
○ To provide networking opportunities for local school board members and
association board members to enhance the effectiveness of their work.
○ To track and advocate for federal education issues and policies impacting
local school boards and public education aligned with a statement of core
values and beliefs of COSSBA.
○ To provide federal judicial advocacy impacting local control and public
education.
What Makes Us Different
In creating a new national organization, the founding states were very
intentional about designing the new association in such a way that it would
stay true to its mission. The following illustrates what makes COSSBA
unique and different.
○ To track and advocate for federal education issues and policies impacting
local school boards and public education aligned with a statement of core
values and beliefs of COSSBA.
○ To provide federal judicial advocacy impacting local control and public
education.
