Filipino Immigrants and the Rural American Teacher Shortage
Rural schools in the United States face a severe teacher shortage. Rural school districts have a hard time attracting teachers because of the low pay, its remote locations and its lack of basic necessities like shopping and home rental options. One in eight public school positions are vacant or filled by uncertified teachers
H-1B and J-1 visas provide rural communities an option to hire immigrants with advanced training and certification.
Filipino immigrants have been going to teach at these rural schools because because of the higher wages that a U.S. job can provide.
The Trump administration has introduced a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications will severely affect rural communities who rely on immigrants to fill vacancies in skilled professions like education and health care. These rural communities won't be able to afford the fees.
Here is a youtube video showing my process of creating this cartoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD-MK-yM2V4
REFERENCES
"Meet the rural school district that used H-1B visas to hire Filipino teachers because ‘we quite simply didn’t have other applicants’" by Sarah Raza and The Associated Press for KLTV East Texas News
https://fortune.com/2025/10/08/rural-school-district-used-hib-visa-for-…
"Desperate for teachers, Nebraska schools turn abroad — to the Philippines" by Natalia Alamdari and The Flatwater Free Press for Nebraska Public Media
https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/desperate-for-tea…
"Unheard Voices of Filipino Immigrant Teachers in the United States" by Raymund Rueda Rosales for ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
https://eric.ed.gov/?q=Filipino&ff1=locUnited+States&id=ED657885
"Alaska schools need teachers. They’re hiring them from the Philippines." by Brian Veua for The Alaska Beacon
https://alaskabeacon.com/2025/05/30/alaska-schools-need-teachers-theyre…
"Filipino immigrants are helping ease Hawaii’s teacher shortage" by Annalisa Burgos for Hawaii News Now
https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/07/20/filipino-immigrants-are-helpin…
"Foreign teachers having an outsized impact in one rural county school district" by April Corbin Girnus for The Nevada Current
https://nevadacurrent.com/2024/08/26/foreign-teachers-having-an-outsize…
"International educators help alleviate SD teacher shortage" by Bart Pfankuch for The South Dakota News Watch
https://www.sdnewswatch.org/international-teachers-program-south-dakota…
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Thanks Enrico and R D Barr.
Thank you for your work, R D, in your work in hospital laboratories. And thank you for your friendship with your Filipino co-workers. Ask them about lumpia, pansit and halo-halo. They're Filipino foods you might enjoy.
The same situation was prevalent in hospital laboratories when I was working. Many of my co-workers were Filipino immigrants. I think nursing was also heavily involved too. Immigrants from many countries have bolstered our work force to fill gaps in important life saving jobs!
Good one.