As schools grapple with Arizona’s teacher shortage, one district is looking beyond the border.
At a Balsz Elementary School District governing board meeting on Aug. 18, Superintendent George Barnes said the district was able to fill its teaching positions for the 2026-27 school year. But the district is looking for ways to stay prepared for future shortages so principals aren’t struggling to fill vacancies in the months prior to the school year starting, he said.
The district is considering partnerships with three different organizations to recruit teachers and other school staff members from outside Arizona and the United States. Barnes said the district already has two teachers who were recruited through International Alliance Group, which helps bring teachers from other countries through a J-1 visa.
The J-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa that can be issued to scholars, professors, teachers and other professions. J-1 visa holders who are teachers are often able to stay in the U.S. for three years. Participating teachers are required to meet all of the certification requirements to teach in the U.S., Barnes said.
Barnes said International Alliance Group often recruits teachers from countries like Mexico, the Philippines, and countries in Central and South America or West Africa.
But the process can take months, Barnes said, meaning the district has to start the process before the school year is set to begin. The district is still finalizing agreements with the organizations, and the governing board is set to approve them in September.
The district does not pay the organizations unless someone is hired through them, Barnes said.
Arizona has struggled with retaining teachers for years, causing districts to get creative in attracting teachers. Arizona loses double the number of teachers when compared with the national average, according to state and national data. Over 8,600, or about 14%, of Arizona teachers left the profession entirely in the 2024-25 school year — much larger than the national rate of 7.1%.
Across rural America, many districts have turned to international teachers to fill staffing shortages. In 2020, data from the Arizona Department of Education showed 28% of international teachers worked in Arizona’s rural school districts. But only 13% of Arizona’s total teachers worked in rural schools.
But Balsz isn’t the only Phoenix-area district recruiting international teachers. Another company that recruits teachers on the J-1 visa lists a number of other metro area districts, such as Tempe Union High School District and Mesa Public Schools, as seeking international teachers.
District considers partnership with three organizations
One of the organizations Barnes discussed, Teach in the USA, would connect international teachers with the school district.
According to its website, Teach in the USA finds talent and helps them through the visa process. Once the teacher is in the U.S., the organization also offers cultural integration support. Teach in the USA did not respond when asked which countries it typically recruits from.
The district is also considering a partnership with Step by Step Consultancy, which would also help to recruit teachers on the J-1 visa. Step by Step Consultancy works mostly with Jamaica but may also bring teachers from South and Central America, Barnes said.
Insight Global, another organization that the district is considering a partnership with, helps recruit other staff members needed at school districts beyond teachers. The organization could recruit for positions such as bus drivers, nurses or speech therapists, Barnes said. Those positions would be recruited from within the U.S., he said.
“We want to make sure we have everything we need going into the summer, so we have everything we need coming into August. So these principals aren’t stressing out about those items and have a full staff going into the summer,” Barnes said.
Reporting by Alexandra Hardle, Arizona Republic
