Michael D. McFarland has been appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the State Board for Educator Certification, which develops certification and continuing education requirements and standards of conduct for public school teachers.

McFarland is the superintendent of the Crowley Independent School District in North Texas and has 30 years of experience in public education. He has served as CISD superintendent since 2017.

He leads a fast-growing district, which for the first time in nine years, saw 100 percent of its campuses meet or exceeded state standards and the district performance grade improved 13 percentage points in one year from 70 percent to 83 percent. The district said that improvement represents one the largest gains in the North Texas area.

Previously, McFarland was the superintendent of schools for Lancaster Independent School District, assistant superintendent of achievement and pupil services for Champaign Public Schools in Champaign, Illinois, and principal for John Tyler High School in Tyler and Foster Middle School in Longview.

He is the past president of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, a member and past president of the Texas Alliance of Black School Educators, and a former board member of the Texas Association of School Boards Risk Management Fund.

McFarland is a member of the American and Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), Association for Supervision of Curriculum Development, Association of School Business Officials, TASA Future Ready Superintendent Task Force, and the Texas Education Agency Commissioner’s Accountability Policy Advisory Committee.

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