OKLAHOMA CITY ( KFOR ) — An Oklahoma teacher is suing the Oklahoma State Department of Education and State Superintendent Ryan Walters for breach of contract and defamation after the department demanded she repay tens of thousands of dollars in bonus money it awarded her.
News 4 met Kay Bojorquez last week after she received a letter from the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) demanding she repay a $50,000 bonus she received after applying for an OSDE teacher bonus incentive program.
The letter demanded she repay the money by February.
“My first thought when I saw that I owed $50,000 to them was to keep myself from going into a constant panic attack. I’ve had four or five panic attacks since then,” said Bojorquez told News 4 last week.
The OSDE notified Bojorquez and other teachers it realized they were not eligible for the bonus after all because, because they already taught in an Oklahoma school district last year.