Filipino teachers are filling St. Paul school jobs, and they’re staying for the summer

St. Paul has joined a growing number of Minnesota school districts turning to teachers from overseas to fill high-demand special-education positions.

Nineteen Filipino instructors began making their way to the state’s second-largest school system last Thanksgiving, and each has stuck around to run classes this summer.

Their ongoing presence is not owing to any travel worries. As skilled workers, the teachers have H-1B visas good for up to six years, and the documents have proven largely hassle-free in the tumultuous opening months of the Trump administration.

No, district officials say, the teachers still are working because they love it and they asked.

“It is busy. It is exhausting. But it is fun,” said Sharmaine Sagrado-Viña, an early-childhood special-education instructor who arrived in St. Paul in December. She has bills to pay, too, she added, both here and in the Philippines.

On Monday, she assembled her 3- and 4-year-old students for a morning meeting at Rondo Education Center and ran through a song urging them to clap their hands and shake their hips before closing with an invitation to “have fun this summer.”

Carolyn Cherry, a district special-education supervisor, said in an interview that working with children at that age can be especially rewarding because of the quick progress they make, plus the bonds that teachers build with families.

But Sagrado-Viña, listening with tears welling, noted there are just two weeks left of summer school.

“They might be a handful, but they’re all cute,” she said of her students. “Oh, I’m crying. I just love the kids.”

She will be a trailblazer once again in the fall.

In July 2023, Heidi Nistler took the helm as assistant superintendent in the Office of Specialized Services for St. Paul Public Schools and found herself with the challenge of having to fill about 50 special-education teaching vacancies, she said.

The district, then flush with federal pandemic relief funds, dipped into reserves to offer $10,000 teacher hiring bonuses. But shortages persisted, and last year the district reached out to Fridley Superintendent Brenda Lewis, who reported success hiring experienced teachers from the Philippines.

That, in turn, led to a connection with PhilAm Partners, a consulting agency based in Fargo. By this fall, the firm will have recruited more than 250 Filipino teachers to work in North Dakota and Minnesota, including more than 200 in the Twin Cities metro area, co-owner Dan Johnson said Monday.

St. Paul has paid PhilAm $1,500 to $1,800 per teacher for its recruiting efforts, Cherry said.

Each of the 19 instructors had the academic and classroom credentials to qualify for a Tier 4 license — the highest level attainable in the state. They were then slotted into the pay schedule negotiated with the St. Paul Federation of Educators.

“In the Philippines, education and training is really important,” Cherry said. “Obviously, coming to the United States and learning our systems, there’s more to learn, but they come well-grounded in working with students with disabilities.”

Sagrado-Viña had more than six years of experience working as an educator in the Philippines. But she said she saw a chance for greater fulfillment in the U.S., where teachers work as part of a team to deliver on each student’s individualized education plan.

But for her and her husband, it’s been a sacrifice.

“We already have a comfortable life in the Philippines. We already have our own house,” she said. “It’s a calling, like, hey, come to the U.S. and help these kids.”

Sagrado-Viña’s husband worked in the Philippines Coast Guard but now is here with an H-4 visa, which generally bars its holders from obtaining employment. She is happy, though, to have landed an apartment on the East Side where she will be within walking distance of the new Bruce Vento Elementary. There, she’ll be one of the teachers breaking in a new classroom.

And maybe next year, she said, after summer school, the two will take a short trip back to the Philippines.

In the meantime, St. Paul Public Schools soon may have to revisit the teacher talent pool. Demand for special-education services is rising, and about 30 vacancies could need filling, Nistler said.