Federal Personnel
Defense Department's Hiring of Teachers for Overseas Schools Gao ID: GGD-89-82 June 14, 1989Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) policies and practices for hiring teachers for its overseas DOD Dependents Schools.
GAO found that DOD: (1) had statutory authority to establish its own policies for hiring teachers; (2) gave hiring preference to teachers already residing overseas over teachers residing in the United States; (3) among teachers already residing overseas, gave hiring preference to those who were dependents of military personnel and federal civil servants stationed overseas; (4) usually gave teachers residing in the U.S. a permanent appointment so that they could qualify for relocation and other entitlements; (5) assigned both temporary and permanent appointments to other teachers to provide staffing flexibility in response to fluctuations in student populations and teacher requirements; (6) had incomplete data regarding the total number of teachers hired and whether they were military dependents or lived overseas or stateside; (7) hired about two-thirds of its teachers from those already residing overseas; and (8) is developing a computerized information system for tracking the number of teachers hired, whether the teachers reside overseas or stateside, and whether they are dependents of military and civilian personnel.