Prince George's schools suspend foreign hiring after being fined - The Washington Post

The federal government imposed a $1.7 million penalty on the school system Monday for a "willful violation'' of labor laws after concluding that it should have paid $4.2 million in processing and payment fees for 1,044 teachers who received temporary work visas, known as H-1Bs. Individual teachers paid those expenses, which exceeded $5,000, out of their own pocket.

On Tuesday, school officials expanded their defense, saying they didn't encourage teachers to make those payments — and didn't know teachers made them.

The vast majority of the county's foreign teachers are from the Philippines. Many paid an agency to prepare and present their portfolios to the school district, and those processing fees were folded into the agency's services, unbeknownst to the school district, Prince George's officials said.