NJ wants to tap teachers from abroad to fill STEM vacancies
By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Amid continuing calls for help from school superintendents to address New Jersey's K-12 teacher shortage, the state appears to be considering expanding its pool to teachers form other countries, particularly for bilingual positions.
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That would mean tapping into the little known BridgeUSA J-1 visa program run by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. State Department. Since 2016, the program has allowed school districts to hire from countries outside the U.S. as "exchange visitors," for the purpose of cross-cultural experiences with Americans. The visa is valid for thee years.
..... The international teacher market could be the next opportunity, according to an informal conversation between state officials and school advocates in mid-December. [2025]
..... The New Jersey Education Department did not confirm or comment on the conversation, which was hosted on Zoom by the Garden State Coalition of Schools, a K-12 advocacy group.
..... Teachers must be sponsored by federally approved organizations to apply for a J-1 visa. New Jersey schools looking to hire internationality teaches must prove "an inability to locate a qualified teacher, with the required certification for the position," according to state guidelines. Hired teachers must be paid salaries commensurate with American hires.
..... Physicians, students, researchers, au pairs, professors and teachers are among those eligible to apply for J-1 visas.
..... The program was created to provide its foreign participants with the opportunity to work, or study in the U.S. for a limited number of years and participate in a cross-cultural exchange with Americans.
..... International teachers must :have every opportunity, to participate in two-way cross-cultural exchange activities" with a home school in their country of origin and within the school district that they work for, according to the New Jersey Department of Education guidelines.
..... The statewide teacher shortage that began in the early 2000s and ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic has schools struggling to fill vaccines in elementary, middle and high school grades in math, science, special education, English as a second language, and world languages, federal data on teacher shortages shows.
..... Some district, including Paterson, Jersey City,North Bergen and Hamilton Township, have been forced to rely on Online courses to fill in the gap.
..... And with 188 teaching jobs still unfilled, the Paterson school district is hoping to use a $500,00 state grant to help current non-teacher employee get credentials that would allow them to become classroom educators.
..... The state has discussed hiring teachers from Spain and Portugal, in particular, for bilingual educators. Other countries have also expressed interest.
..... "While the Teacher category of the Exchange Visitor Program allows foreign nationals to teach in K-12 schools and receive compensation, its primary purpose is to promote cultural exchange in order to enhance mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries," a State Department official said in a statement. The program is run with "intense oversight and monitoring" by the department.
..... the state's larges teachers' union, the New Jersey Education Association, backs expanding the teacher pool form other entires. "We support efforts to bring qualified educators to New Jersey to meet the needs of New Jersey public school students," spokesperson Steve Baker said in a statement.
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To address the shortage in teachers, of Mandarin, New Jersey has entered into an agreement inviting professional Chinese language teachers in Taiwanese schools to teach in American universities and school district.
..... New Jersey is participating in the Mandarin Chinese Language Teachers Program, in which school district can hire highly qualified teachers in STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering and math - as well as qualified Mandarin Chinese educators, the state Education Department said in a statement.
..... Teacher exchanges give people from different countries and from schools across the U.S. "a unique opportunity" to better understand cultures from across the globe, while bring a global perspective to their school, the State Department official said.
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The number of international teachers hired in New Jersey - 32 last year - [2-24] has been very low compared with other states, even though the teacher shortage is a nationwide problem. North Carolina hired 1,063 international teachers through the J1- visa program in 2023, followed by Florida, which hired 996. Texas, Arizona and South Carolina were next.
,,,,, New York state hired 108 new teachers on J-1 visas last year. [2024]
..... Although there is no limit on the number of international teachers a school district can hire, New Jersey does not permit the visa to be extended beyond three years, the state's website says. Some state education departments are J-1 visa sponsors, but New Jersey's is not.
..... The state Education Department did not immediately respond to emails asking why state numbers for the J-1 visa program for teachers are low.
..... The Murphy administration has made "provisions lifting obstacles to certification for non-citizen teachers" in amendments to teacher certification regulations in 2023, a spokesperson said.
..... New Jersey has 19 teachers in 2016 and 2017 trough the Bridge J-1 Visa program. Twenty-five J-1 visa teachers were hired in 2021, and 27 in 2022. There are 80 exchange visitor teachers in New Jersey now.