Alaska school districts are turning to Filipino teachers in Alaska to ease a growing national shortage of certified educators. Kodiak Island Borough School District is one of several districts actively recruiting in the Philippines, cutting out third-party agencies and leading their hiring trips.
Serjoe Gutierrez, a violinist and teacher from the Philippines, joined Kodiak High School three years ago. He plays alongside his orchestra students and has become a community fixture through concerts, radio, and church events.
His journey started with a google search. Kodiak was the last district he applied to, but he was the only one to offer a position. Gutierrez now helps recruit other Filipino educators to join Kodiak administrators on trips to Manila.
The district spent $28,000 to send a four-person team overseas, with additional legal and visa-free services costing $7,000 per teacher. Some districts also pay $2,400 to extend visa services. Hiring through agencies can cost $27,000 per teacher, and Filipino educators often pay upfront fees themselves.
Gutierrez spent $50 to learn how to apply for work abroad. Others have paid agencies thousands after being placed in the US despite earning only $400 monthly back home. During the latest recruitment trip, candidates wore tuxedos, barong Tagalog, and Filipiniana, showing pride in their culture and profession.
Many held gratitude degrees, outshining recent American graduates who typically fill US positions. Administrators from the Bering Strait School District, which once hired 60 teachers in a single year, said the competition was intense.
Tera Cunningham, the district’s human resources director, said meeting candidates face to face ensured they were hiring top talent. Only one-third of the first group of 120 candidates received callbacks.
Jennifer Schmidt from the Alaska Council of School Administrators joined the trip to support smaller districts unable to afford travel. She said Alaska will need international hires until the state rebuilds its teacher pipeline.
