The President of the College of the Marshall Islands says hiring local teachers can significantly reduce the school's annual costs.
As part of the school's plan to erase debt and end six years of budget deficits, the President Carl Hacker will have his salary cut by 7,000 US dollars to 63-thousand for the current fiscal year.
Mr Hacker says salary cuts to other staff members are also expected to save 240,000 dollars.
He says the cost of hiring off-island teachers is too expensive but the school only has four Marshallese staff in its 54 faculties.
"There has to be more Marshallese instructors at the Marshallese college. You know we wouldn't have to deal as much with issues like housing, you know that's starting at a minimum of nine thousand dollars a year per off-island employee. You know we're spending 420,000 dollars a year on housing. You know this has to change."
Carl Hacker says the college has installed an energy efficient air-conditioning system which is expected to cut the electricity bill by 200-thousand US dollars a year.
