Oklahoma schools bring in teachers from Mexico to address educator shortages

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published September 17, 2025 at 9:40 AM MDT

At the start of this school year, Oklahoma schools had 1,000 unfilled teacher positions. To fill the gap, one school district started hiring teachers from Mexico. Santa Fe South Schools in Oklahoma City recently brought in three teachers from Mexico as part of a pilot program coordinated by an education non-profit called Fuel OKC.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with Brent Bushey, CEO of Fuel OKC, and Chris Brewster, founder and superintendent of Santa Fe South Schools.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.