This teacher’s summer salary is a matter of grave concern.

When Mario Rojas began teaching two Spanish classes in Inglewood High School’s summer school program recently, he wasn’t aware the school didn’t have the money to pay him.

While Rojas and his charges conjugated verbs, Principal Lawrence Freeman was out “begging,” as Freeman calls it.

Freeman said Inglewood lacks the money to pay all of its summer teachers for three reasons: a shortage of state funds for summer school programs; the diversion by the school district of state lottery funds to pay for a major employee salary increase last year, and a rise in the number of students failing courses.

So for the last three years, Freeman has sought help from private industry.

Hughes Aircraft Co. chipped in. So did Bishop Wayne Davis of the World Won for Christ ministry. And after Mayor Edward Vincent sent a letter to area businesses and investors, so did Inglewood Park Cemetery, ensuring Rojas’ job.

The total so far is over $13,000, Freeman said.

“The people we’ve contacted have been very helpful,” said Freeman, a flamboyant administrator who spends so much time on the job that at a recent board meeting, he drew laughs when he said: “My name is Lawrence Freeman. I live at Inglewood High School.”

The classes are necessary for students who want to remain on track for graduation and don’t want to be held back a year, Freeman said. The money received so far will pay for seven extra teachers beyond those financed by the state.

Rojas said he didn’t know until Friday that his salary was going to be paid by the cemetery, not the high school. He sounded grateful.

Freeman plans to continue his fund-raising efforts. Any extra money will go to a fine arts program during the last weeks of the summer, he said. Students do not live on Spanish alone.