- No sign yet
By 21 October 2026 we found no decision to put church school teachers on government pay. The 2026/27 budget gives SAT$18 million to the One Government Grant for 320 schools and has no line for these salaries 1.
Cuts both ways No budget lineDetails and sources
- Promised
- The only report we found from before the 29 August 2025 election that names this promise is the Samoa Observer's comparison of 28 August 2025. It lists 'teacher pay for church schools' among FAST's school pledges 2. The Observer gives no amount and no start date for this pledge 2. On 14 July 2025 Talamua reported FAST's manifesto launch, held the Saturday before at Salelologa, Savaiʻi 332. Talamua's report mentions government pay for pre-school teachers, not church school teachers 3. So the two reports name different groups of teachers 23. We did not find the full 2025 FAST manifesto, so the exact words of the promise are unconfirmed. HRPP made a similar offer: PMN reported on 26 August 2025 that HRPP's manifesto offered help with salaries at mission schools 4. The Observer put HRPP's offer to pay teachers and cover tuition at an estimated SAT$60 million 5. In 2021 FAST had a wider plan. The Samoa Observer reported on 29 March 2021 that FAST proposed to pay all teachers from pre-school to secondary school 6. Under Fiamē, the 2021/22 budget of 14 September 2021 said government agencies were working on how to bring all the country's teachers onto the government payroll 7.
- What happened
- The budget of 6 October 2025 raised the One Government Grant from SAT$18 million to SAT$18.5 million 8. On 26 January 2026 Talamua reported that Prime Minister Laʻauli confirmed he had asked the pay tribunal to review teachers' salaries 9. On 12 February 2026 the government's Press Secretariat reported that Cabinet had asked the Remuneration Tribunal to prepare a pay rise proposal for government employees 10. Laʻauli said this task would take five to six months 11. Neither the Talamua report nor the Press Secretariat report says mission teachers are included 910. We found no report of the tribunal's result by 21 October 2026. The government moved the grant from the Ministry of Education to the Fono Faʻavae, the district development programme 12. In a letter published on 25 April 2026, HRPP leader Tuilaʻepa described the old system as run under the Ministry of Finance, so the two sources name different ministries 33. In the same letter he wrote that this change 'raises serious concerns about accountability and opens the door to potential political misuse' 13. On 1 May 2026 Laʻauli cited a report from Education Minister Aiono Alec Ekeroma that found no audits were done between 2021 and 2026 under the previous system 18. Laʻauli said this was one reason the government moved school funding to the Fono Faʻavae 34. On 13 May 2026 the Samoa Observer reported that schools were in Term 2 and still waiting for their full grant 14. Laʻauli said three people must sign before money is released: the principal, the Fono Faʻavae chair and the school committee representative 15. He said the process is meant to make sure the money is properly managed and spent on proper school costs 35. Laʻauli also said the government had to review the percentages used before to share the grant out 16. The Observer's 13 May report does not mention church schools, so it is unclear how mission schools fit the new system 12. The 2026/27 budget of 26 May 2026 gives SAT$18 million to the grant for 320 schools, with no line for church teachers' pay 1. On 17 June 2026 Talamua reported that Aiono told Parliament, on the first day of the 2026/27 budget debate, that there had been no audit of the grant in the last eight years 1936. In that debate, former Cabinet minister Leatinuʻu Wayne Fong argued that the ministry has processes to trace and account for the grant's spending 37. The two accounts of the audit gap give different periods 1819. In June 2026 Laʻauli spoke of a new career and pay framework for teachers, including early childhood teachers 20. Education International's report of his speech does not say whether that framework covers mission teachers 20. On 22 June 2026 the Observer reported the government's claim that the SAT$18.5 million had been paid out 17. On 13 August 2026 the ministry met mission school directors and private school principals 21. The report of that meeting mentions no decision on pay 21.
- Impact on families
- We found no report of any mission teacher being newly paid by government under this promise. The ministry counted 631 mission school teachers in 2025, down from 643 in 2024 22. A Samoa Observer editorial of 16 March 2025 said most schools whose teachers are not on the government payroll pay them mostly from school fees 23. HRPP leader Tuilaʻepa wrote on 25 April 2026 that the grant is essential for paying teachers' salaries, stationery and other costs 24. Tuilaʻepa also wrote that the grant should have been paid before the 2026 school year began 25. What would show delivery: a Cabinet decision, a pay scale for mission teachers, a count of teachers paid, and lower fees.
- Cost
- We found no published cost from FAST or the government. The help that reaches these teachers now is the One Government Grant 26. In February 2023 the government paper Savali said close to SAT$10 million, about 60% of the grant, would fund teacher salaries in church and private schools 26. Whether that 60% share still applies is unconfirmed, because Laʻauli said on 13 May 2026 that the government had to review the percentages 16.
- Verdict for families
- Cuts both ways
- Can it be done?
- A stretch
- Long term
- Too early to tell
- Who deserves the credit
-
Started by an earlier government
This government's own steps are a SAT$0.5 million rise in the grant for 2025/26, a return to SAT$18 million in 2026/27, and a pay review for government employees, with no decision we could find on mission teachers' pay 8110. The grant's teacher-salary share is inherited: the HRPP government's education minister said in September 2020 that about 60% would pay teachers outside government schools, and a press release from Fiamē's government on 26 April 2022 said the grant was released on condition that 60% helps pay mission and private school teachers 2728. A 2018 evaluation for New Zealand says the first push and money for the school grants came from New Zealand and Australia 29.
- Who gains
- If delivered, the 631 mission teachers would get government pay and families of the 12,577 mission school students in 2025 could gain if fees fell, but so far we found no one who has gained 2231.
- Who pays
- Taxpayers and future budgets would carry a new, lasting payroll whose cost no one has published, while the 2026/27 budget funds only the SAT$18 million grant 1.
- Assessment
- Paying church school teachers would send public money to the 631 teachers in mission schools, 453 of them women in 2025 22. A 2018 evaluation for New Zealand found that mission schools pay teachers less than government schools and lose staff to them, so fairer pay would help these workers 30. Families could gain only if fees came down, since fees mostly pay these teachers 23. We found no plan that ties government pay to lower fees. With no published cost and no budget line in 2026/27, the promise is a stretch to fund 1. It lands as mixed, and the long-term effect is unclear.
Sources (37)
- BUDGET ADDRESS 2026/2027
- What the three major parties are promising Samoa
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- Tuilaepa warns of 'greater mess' if rivals win Sāmoa election
- What the three major parties are promising Samoa
- Teachers' salaries on election campaign agenda
- BUDGET ADDRESS 2021/2022
- Budget Address 2025/2026
- Exam results call for Revamp in the Education System
- Cabinet Directs Remuneration Tribunal to Prepare Equitable Public Sector Pay Increase and Consult Businesses on Minimum Wage
- Cabinet Directs Remuneration Tribunal to Prepare Equitable Public Sector Pay Increase and Consult Businesses on Minimum Wage
- Schools to receive funds soon: PM
- Misplaced priorities at a critical time
- Schools to receive funds soon: PM
- Schools to receive funds soon: PM
- Schools to receive funds soon: PM
- Schools still lack essential stationery
- School grants under audit: PM
- Government Education Grant abused and not audited for 8 years
- Go Public: Unions work together to defend and invest in public education throughout the Pacific
- MEC hosts Dialogue to Strengthen Partnerships for Better Education in Samoa
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- Right to education – pay teachers and make education free
- Misplaced priorities at a critical time
- Misplaced priorities at a critical time
- Savali Newspaper Issue 05, 10 February 2023
- SAVALI ISSUE 37: DATED 16 SEPTEMBER 2020
- ONE GOVERNMENT GRANT 2022
- Evaluation of the Sāmoa Education Sector Support Programme – Final Report
- Evaluation of the Sāmoa Education Sector Support Programme – Final Report
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- Misplaced priorities at a critical time
- School grants under audit: PM
- Schools to receive funds soon: PM
- Government Education Grant abused and not audited for 8 years
- Government Education Grant abused and not audited for 8 years
Is it funded?
No budget line
Neither the 2025/26 nor the 2026/27 Budget Address has a line to pay church school teachers 12. In the Education vote, the main grant to schools is the One Government School Grant: SAT$18.5 million in 2025/26 and SAT$18 million in 2026/27 12. The 2026/27 Budget Address also gives SAT$100,000 each to Loto Taumafai and Aoga Fia Malamalama 2. When it looks back on 2025/26, the 2026/27 Budget Address uses the SAT$18.5 million figure 3. We have not seen the Approved Estimates themselves. A Samoa Observer report of 22 June 2026 says the government claims the 2025/26 grant has been paid out; we found no independent check 4. In 2024/25 the ministry spent SAT$17,895,407 of a SAT$18 million grant budget 5.
Sources (5)
- Budget Address 2025/2026
- BUDGET ADDRESS 2026/2027
- BUDGET ADDRESS 2026/2027
- Schools still lack essential stationery
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
What research says
Little research
A 2018 evaluation for New Zealand said that in Fiji and Solomon Islands, mission school teachers get their salaries from government 1. The New Zealand evaluation also found that Sāmoa's mission schools pay teachers less than government schools and lose staff to them 2. A World Bank report of August 2023 says Tonga pays non-government schools TOP 700 per student to keep their teacher pay close to government schools and help keep fees down 311. The World Bank report also says full details of that support are not public 4. The Fiji Times reported on 3 June 2021, citing a Fiji government statement, that Fiji's Court of Appeal, in a case about Vatuvonu Seventh Day Adventist College, held that a church that gets teachers from the state cannot interfere in their appointment 512. A case summary published by the Supreme Court of New South Wales says that on 27 October 2023 Fiji's Supreme Court allowed the college's appeal 67. According to that summary, the Supreme Court held that an aided church school must accept government teachers chosen by the proper process 8. It added that the head of the ministry may weigh the church's wishes for key posts such as heads of school 8. A September 2024 review of Sāmoa's own grant warned it could make schools depend on government money and weaken church and community support 910. We found no study that measures what paying mission teachers would do to fees or learning in Sāmoa, so these findings are a guide only.
Sources (12)
- Evaluation of the Sāmoa Education Sector Support Programme – Final Report
- Evaluation of the Sāmoa Education Sector Support Programme – Final Report
- Improving Secondary School Outcomes in the Pacific: Achievements, Challenges and Knowledge Gaps – Pacific Secondary School Program Phase 1 Report on Tonga
- Improving Secondary School Outcomes in the Pacific: Achievements, Challenges and Knowledge Gaps – Pacific Secondary School Program Phase 1 Report on Tonga
- Fiji Court of Appeal allows State appeal on appointment of head of school
- Decisions of Interest 23 October 2023 – 5 November 2023
- Decisions of Interest 23 October 2023 – 5 November 2023
- Decisions of Interest 23 October 2023 – 5 November 2023
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- Improving Secondary School Outcomes in the Pacific: Achievements, Challenges and Knowledge Gaps – Pacific Secondary School Program Phase 1 Report on Tonga
- Fiji Court of Appeal allows State appeal on appointment of head of school
Cost and reach
Reach is the 631 teachers in mission schools that the ministry counted in 2025 1. Those schools taught 6,935 primary and 5,642 college students in 2025, or 12,577 in all 234. Sāmoa had 38 mission schools on 30 June 2025 5. The yearly cost is unknown, because we found no published cost.
Sources (5)
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
Helps: Wage workers · Women · Students · Churches and matai
Paid for by: Taxpayers · Future budgets and debt
Folafolaga · https://folafolaga.pages.dev/promises/fast-school-church-teacher-pay/ · Printed from the version last checked 23 October 2026. Every claim's source is listed on that page.