OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma teacher has filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Education and the superintendent of public schools after the department demanded she and other teachers repay a bonus it said they received in error .
Kay Bojorquez, a special education teacher for Epic Charter Schools, received a $50,000 bonus in November from the department after applying for Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ new Teacher Signing Bonus program , believing she qualified. But in January, Bojorquez and at least eight other teachers received letters demanding bonus money be paid back by the end of February .
The department said $185,000 was awarded to teachers who did not qualify at all for the program, and $105,000 was overpaid to teachers the department said were qualified for lower bonus amounts than what they received, Oklahoma Watch and StateImpact reported. The program required that teachers have not taught in an Oklahoma school district during the previous school year.