While U.S. Teachers Get Pink Slips, Overseas Instructors Get Visas

by Joe Guzzardi
April 27, 2011

Teaching is one of the most uncertain jobs any American worker can hold. With state, federal and municipal budgets under siege, education is always the first target for cutbacks. While there’s little question that schools’ overhead costs are bloated, administrators are rarely among the first to get the axe. That misfortune falls on teachers’ heads.

The poorer school districts with the neediest students have it the worst. Two weeks ago, in what the American Federation of Teachers called the largest “one fell swoop” firing of teachers in union history, the Detroit Public Schools sent layoff notices to all of its 5,466 employees. With states millions of dollars in debt, analysts fear that mass layoffs will be the trend of the future.

Against this grim backdrop, the last thing teachers need is an influx of foreign-born educators.Yet, despite their questionable credentials, language barriers and the teachers’ growing unemployment, administrators are recruiting abroad and hiring overseas personnel.

Most of the new teachers arrive in the United States on H-1B non-immigrant visas, supposedly issued only when American workers are unavailable. Since there’ plenty of unemployed American teachers, using the H-1B visa violates its intentions, undercuts laid off instructors and does a disservice to students.

The implications are dire. Any possibility for a foreign-born worker to come to the United States on a legal work visa that could lead to permanent residency will generate tremendous interest abroad. Overseas teachers have come from nations thousands of miles away including Jamaica, India and the Philippines. In California and Texas, where speaking Spanish is preferred, many Mexicans have also been hired. But it’s nonsensical to go to Mexico for bilingual teachers when border states are full of them.

According to a Center for Immigration Studies report titled “H-1B + K-12 = ?,” during the fiscal year 2010, the Department of Labor certified that 13,157 new K-12 teaching jobs were filled by H-1B workers. That represents about 20 percent of the new certifications within the visa’s 65,000 general purpose ceiling. Many of the positions pay about $45,000 annually, a salary lower than the fired teacher they replace.

As usual, when it comes to filling American jobs, the first thing employers often consider is more visas. But in most professions including teaching, there are better options. For example, states’ ponderous credential requirements could be temporarily revised to allow Americans with college diplomas and five-years of related work experience to teach. That would open up new careers for those out of work.

Another option would be to allow retired teachers to return to the classroom, at the H-1B salary level, while still drawing their pensions. Having experienced personnel on staff is preferable to raw newcomers who are stepping into a U.S. classroom for the first time. Even the maligned substitute teacher would be better than an uninitiated novice. Totally overlooked in the equation is the long term impact on the foreign countries if their best and brightest leave to seek the proverbial “better life”. How will the Jamaica, India and Philippines ever pull themselves out of abject poverty when their most talented bail out?

Foreign-born teachers should be barred from working in U.S. schools until the education crisis ends—if it ever does.

Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns—mostly about immigration and related social issues – since 1990. He is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns have frequently been syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. He can be reached at [email protected].