A member of the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) has weighed in on the district’s use of foreign labor to fill its teaching and staffing positions.
District 7 Trustee and 1st Vice President Ben Mackey responded to several questions from The Dallas Express after the outlet reported that DISD employed hundreds of H-1B visa workers. Around half the applications went toward bilingual education positions, and the other half toward a combination of special ed, math, and science teachers and an administrator position.
Mackey was asked, “Why has DISD chosen to hire foreign teachers through the H-1B visa program despite reports of a surplus of unemployed teachers in North Texas?”
Mackey explained that the district has found itself unable to find suitable domestic labor.
“Dallas ISD uses H-1B visas to fill particular teaching positions that are (1) in critical shortage as listed by the Department of Education and (2) we have documented inability of being able to fill without the visas. While there may be a surplus of teachers generally in North Texas, they may not necessarily be certified or qualified to fill the critical shortage vacancies (i.e., if a teacher holds an art certification, they may not be certified for high school math and therefore would not be qualified),” he said.
The trustee was then asked, “What strategies are DISD employing to recruit and retain local educators?”
Mackey pointed to Dallas’ numerous recruitment efforts to make his point.
“Dallas ISD recruits aggressively across not only Texas but also across the United States,” he said. “Additionally, Dallas ISD has many partnerships with colleges and universities (both in Texas and out of state) to assist in student teaching placements and recruiting of teachers to Dallas ISD, including students in our own “grow your own” education pathways. Dallas ISD offers market-leading compensation for our teachers to assist in recruiting with salaries up to $100,000 under TEI (teacher evaluation and compensation system).”
Mackey also spoke about the district’s professional development programs.
“We offer strong support for new and early career teachers as well as a strong teacher mentor program and other wrap-around supports. These combined efforts are producing results, as Dallas ISD not only has a higher teacher retention rate than a vast majority of school districts (per TEA’s most recent TAPR report) but we are retaining teachers at a significantly higher rate than Region 10 school districts (4.1% higher) and at a higher rate than even the state of Texas (2.3% higher retention rate),” he added.
Mackey earned a master’s degree in school leadership from Harvard University and completed his undergrad at the University of Florida.
“Trustee Ben Mackey served as principal of Dallas ISD’s School for the Talented and Gifted from 2013 to 2019. During those years, U.S. News and World Report named the school, also known as the TAG magnet, the nation’s top high school for four years. Under Ben’s leadership, TAG revamped its application process with a focus on equity and access, resulting in the school being recognized as a federal Title I school for the first time,” his DISD bio reads. “Over the same period, academic achievement at TAG soared with the school reaching all-time highs on SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement (AP) achievement.”
“The H-1B program allows employers in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or higher in the specific specialty, or its equivalent,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website says.
The Department of Labor indicates that the H-1B program is intended to supplement gaps for employers in the domestic labor market. “The intent of the H-1B provisions is to help employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the U.S. workforce by authorizing the temporary employment of qualified individuals who are not otherwise authorized to work in the United States,” the government agency noted.
The revelation about DISD comes on the heels of a nationwide debate surrounding the H-1B program. Proponents of the program have argued that it is necessary to fill deficiencies in the American labor market, while critics have said that the program is wrought with fraud and misusage, DX reported.