US visas on the rise for foreign teachers
September 16 2009 by Matt Jones
Michael Sarbanes on US visas
A new report by a national teachers union reveals a dramatic rise in US visas issued to foreign teachers in the last few years.
Baltimore was used as a case study in the report. In 2005 108 teachers from the Philippines were recruited to work but this year there are 600 currently employed as teachers in the city. The report claims this type of increase is an immigration pattern across America.
Certain states stood out as having particularly high foreign teacher recruitment rates. California, Maryland, Texas, Georgia and New York had the highest rate in 2007.
There are a number of reasons for this increase. The report says:
“Rather than attending job fairs throughout the Mid-Atlantic, trying to persuade reluctant American teachers to accept positions in troubled inner-city schools, H.R. officials can meet all their hiring needs in one trip. At a single career fair in Manila, they can interview hundreds of prescreened applicants, each of whom is eager to pay for the opportunity to work in Baltimore city schools.”
Each foreign teacher paid between $5000 and $8000 to work in Baltimore. This money was paid to a recruiting firm in California.
The report said that sometimes foreign teachers English skills were badly assessed and help should be given to them to help improve fluency. The report also stated that Baltimore schools are relying on foreign teachers too much and need to put more resources into recruiting in America.
Michael Sarbanes, a spokesman for the Baltimore Public Schools said: “Our human resources people are everywhere, all the way out to Michigan and Ohio. We’re aggressively recruiting every which way we can.”
Sarbanes also said that the report didn't take into account the costs of securing an american visa for the teachers.
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