Mexico, Illinois join to supply bilingual teachers

The Mexican government will help Illinois schools recruit Mexican teachers for bilingual classrooms under a new program announced Tuesday during Mexican President Felipe Calderon's visit to Chicago.

Illinois school districts have recruited Spanish-speaking teachers from abroad for years, as the state's English learner population exploded and demand for qualified bilingual teachers far outstripped local supply.

The program announced Tuesday would take much of the burden of international recruitment off individual districts.

Participating schools would forward their needs to the state board of education, which would pass them on to the Mexican government. The Mexican government would then provide a pool of screened candidates with appropriate credentials, state board spokesman Matthew Vanover said Tuesday.

Illinois would facilitate the placement and certification of those teachers in schools across the state.

Illinois and Mexican officials have not ironed out the details of the new program, but Illinois has a similar deal with the Spanish government that could provide a model.

The arrangement with Spain has brought about 270 Spanish teachers to Illinois schools. The teachers generally stay for three years.

Local school officials called the Spanish program a success and welcomed the new partnership with Mexico.

"This is good news. We've been looking for something like this for several years now, as we got wind of such talks," said Lalo Ponce, director of administrative services for Elgin Area School District U-46.

U-46 officials take advantage of the partnership with Spain to fill many of the bilingual openings. They also recruit from Puerto Rico.

Suburban districts in Wheeling, Carpentersville, Schaumburg and Waukegan also have participated in the program with Spain.

"We've been very happy, and we'd definitely be interested in this new program. We know a lot of our Spanish-speaking population is from Mexico," said Schaumburg Elementary District 54 spokeswoman Terri McHugh.

The partnership with the Spanish Ministry of Education has made recruitment of bilingual teachers easier and cheaper, McHugh said.

The Spanish ministry advertises for open positions, screens the candidates and even pays travel expenses for a district representative to interview candidates in Spain.

The Illinois districts then compete with other U.S. districts for the candidates, just as they would compete for local candidates.

Work on the program will begin immediately, Vanover said.