Learn About Jim McBride

Dr Jim McBride your Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Jim has been your State Superintendent since August of 2005. He has decades of experience running large complex organizations. He has been a teacher and an administrator at almost every education level.

Jim is also a retired Air Force (AF) Colonel. While in the AF he held a number of command positions and taught at several colleges. He was also an instructor and administrator at the AF Academy and ended his military career as the Commander and President of the Community College of the AF, the largest fully accredited college in the world.

Jim leads the Wyoming Department of Education as a true visionary Chief. He promised and has delivered accountability and transparency. Each year since he has been in office, he has published the “Wyoming Education Summary,” which summarizes data and progress for each Wyoming School District.

Biography

James M. McBride, Ed.D.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Jim McBride brings professional experience as a teacher, principal, superintendent, Air Force officer, academy instructor, technology director and community college president to his current position as Wyoming’s Superintendent of Public Instruction.

McBride started his professional career as a teacher at Caesar Rodney Junior High School in Dover, Delaware. During his tenure there, he became certified as a principal and then completed administrative duties.

In December of 1975 Jim began a career in the United States Air Force that lasted over 26 years. During his many assignments, he continued to teach and attend a number of colleges. In 1981 he completed his MBA at Louisiana Technical University, and in 1983 he was sent to the University of North Carolina, where he completed his Doctorate in Education Administration, and an internship in planetarium administration. For the next five years, he taught and held various positions at the Air Force Academy.

In 1996, Dr. McBride was selected as president of the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF). CCAF is the largest fully accredited community college in the world with 121 affiliated campuses and an enrollment that exceeds 370,000.

Jim retired from the Air Force in December 2001, and embarked on a new career as Superintendent of Schools in Bennett, Colorado. In May of 2003 he joined the Wyoming Department of Education as a technology administrator.

In August 2005 Dr. McBride was selected by Governor Dave Freudenthal to complete the unexpired term of the former State Superintendent of Public Instruction. As a result of the November 2006 election, Jim was elected to that position and will continue to oversee public education in Wyoming for the next four years. He will also serve with the Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer and Auditor on the State Lands and Investments Board, the State Board of Deposits, and the State Building Commission. He is a member of the School Facilities Commission and the State Board of Education. He is an ex-officio member of the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees and the Community College Commission.

Jim appoints members to the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board. He is a member of the Montgomery Trust Fund for the Visually Impaired, the Wyoming Early Childhood Council, the Wyoming Workforce Development Council, the Wyoming Higher Education Assistance Authority, Wyoming Education Planning and Coordination Council, and numerous other boards.

He is a member of the Council of Chief State School Officers and Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Jim and his wife, Sandi, have been married since 1971. Sandi is a retired computer analyst. Their son, Jim, is a physicist; their daughter, Monique, practices law in Cheyenne where she lives with her husband, Rick, and their children. Jim and Sandi are deeply appreciative of their relationship with their grandchildren, who bring joy and new meaning to every day.