A plan by the Oklahoma State Department of Education to claw back thousands of dollars in bonuses it wrongly paid to a handful of teachers isn’t going over well with members of the Oklahoma Legislature.
State Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, and Reps. Mark McBride, R-Moore; Mickey Dollens, D-Oklahoma City; and Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon, all issued media statements Friday saying they were against forcing teachers to repay bonuses that were wrongly paid to them.
Earlier this week, a story published by the nonprofit news organizations Oklahoma Watch and StateImpact Oklahoma reported at least nine teachers have received letters from the state Education 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.
“As a businessman, if I make a mistake, I have to own that,” McBride said. “I can’t go back to my customer and say you have to repay me because I made a mistake in our contract. The same should happen with the State Department of Education. If they made a mistake in approving an application, they shouldn’t demand the teacher pay for it.”