State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters defended Thursday the Oklahoma Department of Education’s demand that some teachers pay back bonuses they apparently received in error. The teachers said they had spent at least part of the bonus before the errors were discovered.
According to a story published by the non-profit news organizations Oklahoma Watch and StateImpact Oklahoma , at least nine teachers have received letters from the department demanding they pay back the bonuses they received by the end of February. Bonus amounts ranged from $15,000 to $50,000. The report said at least $290,000 was overpaid to teachers who were either not qualified for the bonus or qualified for a lower amount.
Following Thursday’s State Board of Education meeting Walters told media the teacher signing bonus program “is the most successful” program in the state’s history and that the department had received criticism for putting in “claw back measures.”
Oklahoma Watch and StateImpact reported the department did not verify teachers’ application information before the funds were disbursed. It quoted teachers who said they had spent at least some of the money and that paying it back — especially by the end of February — would cause serious financial issues for them. They noted some of the bonus money had been withheld for taxes.