Greg Abbott proposed an H1B visa ban for Texas public schools on Tuesday, saying he wants legislation that would leave exactly zero Texas public school employees on the visas. He made the announcement during a campaign stop in Austin and said the state is having to make "some tough decisions."
The proposal would affect current H-1B visa holders in Texas public schools and future applicants seeking the same visas. Abbott said the Legislature must pass the policy changes before he can sign them, putting the issue into next year’s lawmaking session.
Abbott’s Austin announcement
Abbott tied the proposal to federal limits on H-1B visas. He said, "We’re tired of the federal government not putting limits on who can come in under H-1Bs, and because of the federal government’s failure to control H-1B visas, Texas is having to put our foot down, and that means making some tough decisions,"
He also proposed legislation to prohibit public schools from accepting gifts or entering into financial agreements with a foreign source. The H-1B visa ban for Texas public schools proposed by Gov. Abbott would add those schools to a broader restriction already familiar in Texas universities, where foreign-source limits already apply in related settings.
Dallas ISD and shortages
The clearest friction in the proposal comes from Dallas ISD, which employs more people through the H-1B visa program than any district or public university in Texas, with 171 visa holders. On Wednesday, Dallas ISD officials said the district hires educators from abroad only to fill critical shortages identified by the Texas Education Agency.
Dallas ISD officials also said each educator hired from abroad is certified by the Texas Education Agency. They said, "If the governor’s new expectation is to eliminate these teachers, then we’re going to need more Texans in the teaching pipeline,"
January review and next steps
Abbott first said in January that he was reviewing whether taxpayer dollars were being used to pay for H-1B visa holders at public schools and universities. After that review, he ordered state agencies and public universities to freeze new H-1B visa petitions, but that January order did not apply to Texas public schools.
The new proposal would extend the approach to those schools and to current workers already on H-1B visas. The practical question now is how many districts rely on those workers and whether lawmakers will choose to preserve any room for specialized positions such as bilingual education, or move to the zero-H-1B standard Abbott set out in Austin.
