School boards across Wyoming and the nation have a choice to make — will they keep their membership with the National School Board Association?

The NSBA has been facing criticism since it released a letter in September 2021 requesting law enforcement aid from President Joe Biden. The letter was in response to “threats of violence and acts of intimidation” as a result of school boards enforcing COVID-19 policies. The NSBA has since apologized for the strongly worded letter which included a comparison of some parents to domestic terrorists. There has also been a change in leadership since the release of the letter.

As of June 2022 over 20 states have left the NSBA with some moving to the Consortium of State School Board Associations (COSSBA). 

How will Wyoming choose?

Park County School District 1 trustee Tracy Morris, the Park County director to the Wyoming School Board Association, provided the board with updates on the state association’s NSBA membership during a June 27 workshop meeting. 

Morris said by July 1 the WSBA directors wanted to know where the county school board stood on membership to the NSBA. Last year the WSBA also paid for membership to COSSBA. Morris said WSBA Executive Director Brian Farmer wanted to know what school boards within the state used the organizations for and if they would like membership to the NSBA, COSSBA or both. Morris encouraged the board to visit the organizations’ websites and look at provided information so they can better understand what the two organizations are about. 

Powell’s membership fee to the WSBA is based off of last year’s expenditures. This fiscal year the PCSD1 board is paying $12,758.07. The NSBA and COSSBA memberships are similarly based on expenditures. This year’s fees are $26,982 and $23,625 respectively.

COSSBA’s dues for the year were due July 1 but Morris said that the districts did not have to pay by then as WSBA will not meet until July 15, Farmer only wanted the county directors to gather an indication of where the boards stood ahead of the July 15 meeting. 

Morris asked the board to look into the two organizations on their own and with information provided by Farmer.

“A lot of the directors are wanting us to put Wyoming first, that we be unified as Wyoming and not just going nationally,” Morris said. “Some districts have already responded — Pinedale, Lander and Laramie [County School District 1] said they want to be no part of the National School Board Association.”

These three districts have requested that their WSBA dues not go toward NSBA membership.

“I’ve heard chatter through superintendents that battle lines are being drawn to the point of  people saying, ‘well if they do that, we’re going to pull out of the [WSBA],’” Curtis said. “So it’s this, this has the potential to be devastating to Wyoming school boards.”

What are the choices again?

“I’ve already met with Meeteetse … they would like to have one more year of doing both,” Morris said. “They went to COSSBA, they thought it was great.”

Dillivan said that the board has not been to a COSSBA event but in his opinion any organization the board attends will have similar seminars which are put on by the same type of individuals.

“Those seminars are going to be put on by people just like us, they’re put on by board members from different parts of the country, but they’re just like us … they’re put on by industry professionals, they’re put on by university professors,” Dillivan said. “So I guess regardless of the flavor of the organization and leadership, I think you will still have seminars that regular people like us from different parts of the country.”

Trustee Dusty Paul asked if the fees provided to either organization also go to lobbying. Curtis said that the funds go into “their big pot” which is used for numerous things including advocacy. Curtis noted that the NSBA does have a policy team which tracks certain topics in the same way that the WSBA does. But, he does not assume that their opinion is the same as his. 

“I read the issue, and then I go out and advocate based on what I’ve seen,” Curtis said.

Trustee Trace Paul also raised the point that COSSBA and the NSBA are not the only two options for the board. 

“I don’t want us to get too hung up on thinking this is our platform of professional development. There’s certainly a lot of other avenues we can pursue as a district … there’s a ton of things out there that are very specific to whatever topic we want to go and be trained on,” he said. 

Districts could also choose to independently pay for a membership to a professional development organization.

The board reached the conclusion that they may want to continue one more year of both COSSBA and NSBA during which time they will attend both conventions either together or split into delegations. As of the end of the meeting the board members had not reviewed all materials and submitted a response to Morris.

What the WSBA decides to fund and how districts move forward will be seen following the WSBA’s July 17 meeting.

Edit: Information was removed due to safety concerns.