Rural schools may face dire teacher shortages as federal funding is canceled, and H-1B visas are priced out of reach

In many rural schools, the majority of teachers are
not from the U.S. (Adobe Stock photo)

Federal funding cuts and skyrocketing H-1B visa fees are likely to deepen teacher shortages in rural schools, where international teachers helped fill staffing shortages.

Earlier this year, the federal Department of Education canceled teacher residency and training grants for rural schools. In September, President Donald Trump "announced a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications — visas hundreds of schools use to hire international teachers for hard-to-staff positions," writes Ariel Gilreath of The Hechinger Report, which covers education.

Melissa Sadorf, the executive director of the National Rural Education Association, told Gilreath the H-1B fee increase could cause the rural teacher workforce to "collapse."

Halifax County School District in rural North Carolina serves as an example: "Districtwide, 101 of 156 educators are international," Gilreath reports. "Of the 17 teachers who work at Everetts Elementary School in the district, two are from the United States."

Since few rural schools have the funding to pay $100k for an H-1B visa, districts will be forced to hire international teachers through the J-1 visa, which requires recipients to return home after three to five years.

While the J-1 visa helps schools fill staffing holes, it doesn't deliver a return on investment through retention because teachers have to leave the country just as they are hitting their stride in the classroom.

With fewer American college students choosing elementary and secondary teaching as a profession, the U.S. has an overall teacher shortage "that’s made filling vacancies one of the most challenging problems for school leaders to solve," Gilreath explains. 

In rural Bunker Hill, Illinois, where "more than 500 students attend two schools, some positions have gone unfilled for years," Gilreath reports. "Students often end up with a long-term substitute or an unlicensed student teacher."