Teachers were approved for nearly $300,000 by OSDE – then told to pay up

OKLAHOMA COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) – The teacher sign-on bonus hosted by the Oklahoma State Department of Education paid out millions. Still, almost $300,000 went to teachers being told to pay it back.

The Oklahoma Watch team, including Jennifer Palmer and Beth Wallis, published their findings Thursday morning. Three teachers they spoke with were charged the $50,000 they each were given after approval.

There were more who were all told to pay back the money mistakenly approved for them within three weeks.

“We started this around the first of the year and started asking the department questions and that’s when it started to snowball a little bit,” said Palmer. “We found that some teachers got money that should not have qualified and now are being asked to return the funds.”

‘My kid better not get bomb threats’: Strong community push back over ‘Libs of TikTok’ creator’s appointment to education committee

One of the teachers interviewed was Kristina Stadelman, a Special Education teacher for over five years. Her district allowed her to tell her story as long as they were not named.

The state department notified Stadelman she was not eligible for the bonus after all because she taught in an Oklahoma school district last year.

“It was around September that I filled out the paperwork and figured that the district would reject it but I found out that I was approved and I got the money in November,” said Stadelman.

She and her fiance became emotional when they discussed the amount of stress this has caused them. They said they woke up one morning and discovered that nearly $30,000 had been directly deposited into their account. She said that nearly $20,000 was taken out due to taxes.

OSDE suspends teaching certificates for 6 accused of ‘assaulting’ students

Now, the department wants every last penny back, even the money that was taken out in taxes.

“I plan to work for the district for five years and that’s what they had said that you need to work,” said Stadelman. “I figured that they wouldn’t be giving out this kind of money if we were approved because I don’t know about anyone else but that’s a lot of money.”

The two just had their first baby together, Rowan, just after the beginning of the year. They also share four kids. The money, Stadelman said, went to care for them and to care for their home.

“Yeah, we used some of the money to give the kids a perfect Christmas as well so like we weren’t scrambling for once,” said Stadelman.

But the stress began when they received a letter from the Oklahoma State Department of Education that demanded she pay back all $50,000. She also said that the letter gave a due date of February 24.

“We don’t know what we will do,” said Stadelman. “That’s actually more money than I make in a year.”

Also listed in the Oklahoma Watch article were interviews with teachers, Kay Bojorquez and Anita Hopson Malone. They report that these three were among nine total who received a sign-on bonus from the state and, shortly after, a demand to pay it back.

“I think the perspective of the State Department of Education is that these were the rules. These teachers didn’t qualify and to protect taxpayers, we have to get the money back,” said Palmer. “That’s kind of how Superintendent Walters has talked about this program in front of the legislature.”

After Thursday’s Board of Education meeting, Walters addressed the issue in part, “If any individual lied throughout the process – we have been forward and upfront saying we will claw back those measures.”

Stadelman and her fiance didn’t seem to know that or understand the seriousness of the clawback measure. And don’t have the money to pay it back in time.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.