Sacramento school district also hiring special ed teachers from PH

SACRAMENTO, California — Sacramento City Unified School District is hiring special education teachers from the Philippines to fill a shortage.

Twelve teachers arrived last year to teach special education in elementary, middle and high schools, and the district wants to recruit another batch this year.

The school district is the only one in the greater Sacramento area hiring from the Philippines through a program that began last year, according to a report by the Sacramento Bee.

A Filipino recruiter, who was interviewed by the Bee, charges the teachers $2,500 for a placement in the U.S. and prepares all of the required paperwork and visa applications.

The recruitment process can take up to two months and the school district’s only cost is staff travel to the Philippines. Each teacher spends roughly $12,000 in startup costs to get placed in the U.S.

Filipino teachers can work in the U.S. through the J-1 non-immigrant cultural and educational exchange visa program. They can stay for three years and then apply for a two-year extension.

In Sacramento, teachers undergo an annual evaluation. The school district is required to treat the teachers just like local hires and offer commensurate pay and equal benefits based on the contract with the teachers’ union.

One teacher is last year’s batch earns $5,700 a month in Sacramento, compared with $500 in the Philippines.

The Sacramento City Teachers Association President David Fisher told the that the foreign recruitment just shows the district’s “inability to retain and recruit teachers,” but that other districts don’t have the same problem.

SCTA has been in negotiations with the district for a new contract. It represents 2,400 teachers, including the Philippine recruits. The union criticizes the district for not spending more for teachers and resources even though its revenues have grown.

District leaders counter that criticism by pointing to growing costs to provide benefits like lifetime health insurance.

Meanwhile, a former vice president of the SCUSD Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, expressed worry that the foreign teachers’ accents can be difficult to understand for kids with disabilities like autism.