Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga has taken issue with the salaries for teachers recruited from Samoa, noting in a letter to DOE Director Vaitinasa Salu Hunkin-Finau that they are not being “properly compensated.”  The letter, which was leaked to Samoa News, stated that Governor Lolo had only recently discovered this issue.

“It only came to my attention today (Thursday, Jan. 15) that the teachers from Samoa here to teach the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects, and who are degree holders, are being compensated practically at the entry level for teachers.”

Lolo said, “This is very disconcerting based on the fact that we (the American Samoa Government) reached out to Samoa for teachers to teach Math and Science at our schools and yet they are not properly compensated predicated on their education credentials and years of teaching experience.”

(Although the governor did not mention in his letter the salaries being paid to teachers recruited from Samoa, Samoa News understands they are being paid a basic starting salary of $11,000.)

Governor Lolo pointed out that these teachers have left their jobs in Samoa to respond to ASG’s demand for qualified teachers in the STEM subject areas. “We have effectively disheartened and dampened their motivation in giving of their best and providing effective instruction in these hard to fill subjects of math and science, as we have failed to appropriately recognize their worth.”

The governor pointed out that the compensation policy threshold for all degree holders has been established, setting the entry salary of the Bachelor’s degree holder at $23,000 and masters degree holder at $27,000. “This compensation policy should be applied equally to degree holders recruited from Samoa,” Lolo said, and directed the DOE Director to conduct the appropriate adjustment of the salaries of the teachers from Samoa based on the compensation policy that has been established for all degree holders.

“These salary adjustments should be retroactive to the effective date of the contract.” Lolo urged the DOE Director to take immediate steps to correct the compensation disparity.

At this time last year, DOE Director Vaitinasa, Deputy Director of Instructions, Faauifono Vaitautolu and Assistant Director for DOE’s Second Division Samasoni Asaeli, were in Samoa looking for teachers to instruct in the subjects of English, Math, Science, and the trades.

At the time Asaeli said qualified applicants from Samoa would be given the same contract benefits as any other contract worker hired by the government. The salary would be commensurate with qualification equivalency to the American system of education, he said.

Asaeli told Samoa News last year that Samoa is the most sensible choice for recruits  because we share the same language and culture — and this is a plus in our current efforts to promote the use of the Samoa language to help teach our students to be proficient in both Samoan and English. 

The move by DOE did not sit well with Samoa’s Minister of Education, Magele Mauiliu Magele, who claimed that DOE officials who are in Samoa recruiting teachers were there to “steal” from Samoa. Magele’s comments were raised during a session of Parliament, when it was learned that ASDOE officials were in Samoa for that purpose.

According to the Samoa Observer, Magele did not mince words during the Parliament Session, when he raised his concerns about ASDOE’s move.

“About the representatives from American Samoa who are in the country, it appears that they have come to steal, in a respectful manner, teachers from here,” he said at the time.