Oklahoma lawmakers not on board with demanding teachers give back bonuses paid in error

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."

Pugh, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said he was in the process of contacting the state Education Department to rectify the situation.

“In my opinion, if the State Department of Education made this mistake, they have to live with it. I have consistently fought for our teachers on the Senate floor and this instance is no different," Pugh said. "Our teachers are hardworking individuals and if this money was promised to them, and given to them, the commitment needs to be upheld. This stands to move us backward in the trust and confidence my colleagues and I in the Senate and House have tried to build with educators throughout the state in the last several years."

Oklahoma State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters defends plan to get money back from teachers

State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters defended Thursday his department's plan that some teachers pay back bonuses they received in error. The teachers said they had spent at least part of the bonuses before the errors were discovered. Walters told media the teacher signing bonus program was "the most successful program in the state’s history" and that the department had received criticism for putting in clawback measures.

“There are certain issues at play here that cause us to continue to come back and make sure over a five-year period they continue to stay around with those qualifications,” Walters said. He said that teachers applied, but then the department had their own accounting processes in place.

More: Ryan Walters defends decision to 'claw back teachers' bonuses paid in error

McBride, who serves as the chair of the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee for Education, said he talked to Walters and others at the state Education Department about the implementation of the bonus program. He said he expressed his concerns about how the bonus would be paid up front and how he would like to see better parameters and controls put in place before the money was distributed.

Baker, who serves as the chair of the House Common Education Committee, said attempting to claw back the bonuses was wrong.

"As a former teacher, I cannot imagine the anxiety something like this would induce — to be deemed eligible and to receive a large bonus in my bank account, only to be told months later I must return it. It was up to the State Department of Education to provide proper oversight in the vetting and approval of the bonus recipients," she said. "With this much money at stake, the SDE must reconsider the internal process to find an acceptable solution to make this an attractive teacher recruitment tool.  I implore the department to find a better solution for the teachers that received the bonus in error."

Dollens, who is also a former teacher, said he knows firsthand how difficult it can be financially to make ends meet. “These people are facing financial ruin because of lack of due diligence at the Department of Education,” he said. “As a leader, you have to take accountability, and that means not only when things go well, but when things go wrong. To just dismiss it and say it’s nothing but a clawback, we’re going to carry on is a lack of leadership, it’s a lack of empathy and teachers deserve better.”

McBride questioned why the same standard wasn't applied for the department's reported misuse of federal Governor’s Emergency Educational Relief (GEER) funds. In 2020, the funding was given to help low-income families purchase education materials while school buildings were closed due to high COVID-19 cases.

A U.S. Department of Education audit accused the state of failing to follow federal regulations, and noted that Superintendent Walters approved the purchases. The state's attorney general also has said he feels state actors were to blame for the misspending. "We haven't asked the department to repay those funds," McBride said.

The lawmakers said they will pursue legislative solutions on the bonus program in the upcoming session of the Legislature, which convenes Feb. 5.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma lawmakers to work with teachers paid bonuses in error