Ryan Walters says Oklahoma journalists are lying about handling of teachers' bonus program

The news media is conspiring against him, says state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters.

During a Wednesday morning news conference, Walters said there was a media conspiracy to “actively lie” about his work with the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the credibility of a teachers’ bonus program that has drawn scrutiny.

He questioned the reporting of some media outlets in recent days on problems within that program, seeming to focus much of his ire at a pair of nonprofit news agencies that initially reported about the issue. But despite being given multiple opportunities to do so, Walters did not cite specific errors in reporting by any specific outlet. He also declined multiple opportunities to acknowledge any errors or responsibility on the part of his agency, instead continuing to blame teachers who received bonuses in error or media reporting.

Executives from both outlets said they stood by their reporting after Walters issued a diatribe against journalists who have covered the story.

“I am going to be very critical of what I’ve seen in the press the last week,” Walters said. “What we have seen is a deliberate lie pushed by reporters, pushed by media, to push a certain perspective. They are trying to undermine my administration, they are trying to attack conservatism and education reform and I won’t stand for it.

“What happens when we have members of the press, some of you, that decide your goal is to undermine the programs that we’re launching, not talk about the 500-plus teachers we brought to the classroom, not talk about our efforts to ensure federal dollars were spent by Jan. 25, that money got in teachers’ hands and that those teachers stay in the classroom, but instead have decided to attack the program, attack our administration and lie to Oklahomans?”

He said journalists in Oklahoma were “lying to their viewers, lying to their readers” in their coverage of the issue and said it was a “disservice to Oklahoma. It undermines our republic when you lie to the public in a way that undermines their very trust in the work that you do.”

At least nine Oklahoma teachers had received letters demanding bonus pay be returned, according to initial reports

Last week, a story published by the nonprofit news organizations Oklahoma Watch and StateImpact Oklahoma reported at least nine teachers had received letters from the 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.

Walters said Wednesday only four teachers were affected, although the Oklahoma Watch reporter who worked on the story said Walters’ spokesman, Dan Isett, earlier confirmed to the reporter the number was nine.

After Walters' press conference, Oklahoma Watch's executive director, Ted Streuli, and Logan Layden, the managing editor of StateImpact, issued a joint statement.

"The Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction today held a press conference to call us liars," they said in the statement. "Oklahoma Watch and StateImpact, non-profit, non-partisan statewide news organizations, reported last week that the Department of Education notified at least nine teachers who received bonuses that they would have to return all or part of the money by the end of February.

"We stand by our story and the month of research our reporters put into it. It is our policy to correct any factual errors in our work as soon as they are brought to our attention and verified. We have asked the Department of Education repeatedly to specify what erroneous information they believe our work contained. They have not identified any inaccuracies except to say there were four teachers involved rather than nine. That conflicts with the written information the department provided."

They also included a link to "relevant documents" produced by the reporters, Jennifer Palmer and Beth Wallis, who researched and wrote the story, saying "we believe in transparency and honesty."

Rep. Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon, and Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore – who chair key House committees on common education and education appropriations and budgeting – met with Walters following his press conference. McBride declined to comment on the meeting.

In a memo to state legislative leaders this week, Walters accused the media of “incomplete,” “inaccurate” and “premature” reporting on issues within the program. He also said “several teachers misrepresented their experience and qualifications,” appearing to blame them for the fallout after the OSDE wrongly paid bonuses to those teachers.

The errors have led to attempts by the agency to claw back thousands of dollars from the teachers, an effort that has not received a positive reaction from lawmakers.

"A lot of misinformation has been put out by the press regarding the teacher signing bonus,” Walters wrote. “I wanted to provide you with some corrections and add additional context about some of that information. The press has jumped the gun on their reporting, excluded vital details on the contracts and our auditing system, and ignored the overwhelming success of the program.”

In previous testimony before the House budget subcommittee, Walters said “more than 500” teachers were brought into Oklahoma classrooms through the program and 173 of them received the maximum $50,000 bonus. That number included 67 out-of-state teachers who moved to Oklahoma, he said. He has called the program “the most successful teacher recruitment initiative in state history.”

Ryan Walters defends decision to claw back money from teachers

Walters has defended his agency’s efforts to claw back the money. He said Wednesday that since federal money was being used for the bonus program, efforts to claw back the bonuses that were paid in error were legally required.

“The reporters that ran the story know, or knew, that we’ve been working with these teachers to try to ensure that there is no clawback, that the money stays in their pockets, they stay in the classroom and that all federal requirements are met,” Walters said Wednesday. “The state holds no liability, the teachers hold no liability and we work that out moving forward. We have … been working toward these agreements with these teachers.”

Asked if his agency held any responsibility for the errors, Walters wouldn’t acknowledge any, deflecting the blame onto the teachers who received the bonuses in error.

“We had a contract that was in place, that was agreed to,” he said. “We’ve had multiple levels of accountability that we built into a system. We put in claw backs that were a requirement from the feds that helped ensure that accountability was there from our end, so that issues could be dealt with immediately. We have worked with these individuals to find a path forward for them.”

Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, is the chair of the Senate Education Committee and is among the influential legislators who have opposed Walters’ efforts to both claw back the money and blame the teachers and media for the missteps by the agency. He expressed concern Tuesday the superintendent seemed to be burning through “years of goodwill” built by the Legislature.

“I’m serious about (there being) no claw back,” Pugh said Wednesday. “More importantly, I will highlight this again – I want to work with the (OSDE) to get this program running and create the right guardrails, so that we’re not in this situation again. … I want to learn the details and I want to work on solutions. I always want to be looking forward and never looking behind.”

Pugh said he planned to meet soon with Walters.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ryan Walters says Oklahoma journalists trying to undermine department