CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Beeville ISD has gone international to find an answer to their teacher shortage problem. Now, some of the students are being taught by teachers who come from Southeast Asia.
“I’m from the Philippines and I was teaching there for 4 years in the special education class and I was very fortunate to get work in the U.S.,” international teacher, Rhea Paga said.
Paga is one of six teachers who moved to Beeville from the Philippines for an opportunity to teach in the United States.
“I teach 6th through 8th grade life skills, and I’ve been here for 3 months now,” Paga said.
Paga said these last 3 months have been a mix of emotions.
“We get homesick sometimes,” she said.
Coming to this country alone with no home or transportation, Paga and the other teachers had no idea what to expect.
But, they’re thinking about the future.
“I will be working a lot of years to get what I want in the future. That’s why I decided to come here because it is high paying compared to the Philippines,” Paga said.
Beeville ISD, Chief Human Resources Officer, Darryl Cobb tells us this was the answer to their teacher shortage problem.
All that needed to be done was to get authorization from the government.
“The H1B visa gives the candidate 3 years to teach in the United States. If they’re successful and they get acculturated, they get an additional 3 years. After 6 years with the district’s assistants, they can apply for a green card,” Cobb said.
Working in the United States, Cobb said the 6 international teachers will be paid first-year salary for a teacher in Region 2.
“When they heard what that starting salary was there was no one who thought that was insufficient,” Cobb said.
Beeville ISD is continuing on its path to improvement. The board of trustees recently voted in favor of calling a 62-million-dollar bond election. If passed, it will include construction of a new elementary campus, restoration work, and a new track.
