Banning H-1B teachers is a recipe for disaster  

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) wants public schools in his state to employ “exactly zero” employees on H-1B visas.

His campaign-trail proposal would completely bar schools from employing anyone on the specialized work permit, impacting new hires and current teachers. If passed, this would be a stark reversal for the state that, in 2025, received more K-12 education H-1B visa approvals than any other.

Abbott’s rationale prioritizes protection against vague threats of “foreign influence” over the mundane but tangible consequences of thousands of students losing access to qualified teachers. H-1B reliant Dallas Independent School District bluntly described the implications: If these teachers go, it will need more Texans in the pipeline.

But the Texas pipeline of qualified teachers is running dry. We have each spent years studying teachers in America’s most challenged schools and the difficult decisions made in response to teacher shortages. Our findings demonstrate how educationally reckless the governor’s proposal is.

Our research, looking at three decades of math and science teacher qualifications, surfaced a significant finding: STEM teacher qualifications in the highest-need settings have been stable, even modestly improving. This is occurring despite the teaching profession being at a 50-year low, including coinciding enrollment drops in teacher preparation programs and relative declines in teachers’ pay.    

How is it, then, that STEM teacher quality has been sustained, even improved? High-need schools got creative.  

Recruiting foreign-trained teachers emerged as a........

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