Kodiak schools approve 4-1, $100,000 more for international teachers' green cards

The Kodiak Island Borough School District board approved another $100,000 in September for immigration lawyers to help the district's international teachers get green cards.

The money goes to the law firm Fisher & Phillips to prepare and file green card labor certification paperwork, known as PERM, with the U.S. Department of Labor. The board passed it 4-1 on Sept. 21 as part of a larger package of spending, according to the meeting minutes.

Since fiscal 2022, the district has hired 33 teachers on J-1 exchange visas or H-1B work visas, and 26 of them still worked there as of March, according to a memo from then-Assistant Superintendent Kim Saunders. Eight teachers from the Philippines work at the district's rural sites, according to April slides.

But H-1B visas last six years at most. Starting the green card process early makes it more likely teachers can stay past that limit, the memo said. Without a more stable option, the April slides warned, the district could face 26 vacancies in the next several years, on top of an estimated five to 10 a year.

The memo put the district's cost at about $10,000 per teacher over two years, and the slides said teachers pay some of the cost too.

The board approved $100,000 for the green card work in April, too, voting unanimously to start the two-year process for 20 teachers. A year earlier, it started the process for the six teachers who had been there longest. The district lists the September spending as a renewal and lists $89,935 for the firm the year before.

Board members Jim Pryor, Mike Litzow, Jesse Mickelson and Kerry Irons voted yes in September. Duncan Fields, who supported the April spending, voted no. The minutes give no reason.

The March memo also said some H-1B application costs had reached $100,000. A 2025 presidential proclamation required that payment for certain new H-1B petitions. A federal district court vacated the guidance carrying it out on June 8, and an appeals court declined to put that ruling on hold July 24, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.