A Charlotte, North Carolina, school district forced over 200 teachers to return the bonus money it had paid them by accident on Jan. 12, according to WBTV.
The Charlotte-Mechlenburg School District accidentally sent 225 veteran teachers $1,250 bonus off-cycle checks that were supposed to go to newly hired English teachers.
The school district caught their $281,250 mistake on Jan. 17. On Jan. 18, HR notified the 225 veteran teachers about the error and said the amount would get deducted from their next paycheck. HR gave them two options a few hours later: deducting from their February check or a three-month payment plan. In a statement to the outlet, CMS spokeswoman Susan Vernon-Devlin detailed why the 225 veteran teachers couldn’t keep the money.
“The recruitment bonus was intended for teachers new to a critical shortage teaching area,” Vernon-Devlin stated. “These 225 teachers are not new to their area and should not receive the bonus. This was an unfortunate oversight.”
CMS School Board Chairwoman Stephanie Sneed mentioned the state’s General Statutes, NCGS 143.64.80, which allows the entity that made the overpayment to recoup it from the receiving person.
“The amount of the overpayment may be offset against the net wages of the person receiving the overpayment,” the statute read.
Sneed added, “We understand the impact on our teachers and are confident staff are diligently working to avoid these situations in the future.”
CMS apologized for the error and assured them they understood the challenges it posed to the veteran teachers.
“We understand the challenges this error may have caused, and we are committed to working closely with each other, the teachers impacted,” the statement read. “We value the work of all CMS employees and sincerely apologize for any distress or inconvenience.
In October 2023, CMS received a $7 million grant from the Department of Education to assist with teacher retention and recruitment.
And CMS teachers do receive a $200 monthly “retention” bonus because the department is dealing with a teacher shortage.
Sneed spoke with WSOC and stated she and her colleagues believe teachers should be paid more, but a CMS error makes things more distressing.
“We all know and agree that teachers do not make enough money, and that’s something we fight for all the time, and so for an error like this to occur, completely understand how distressing this can be,” Sneed said.
Sneed and the board had no choice but to reclaim the overpayments of state funds, but they wanted a gentler way.
“The best way to do that is where it can have the least impact as possible,” she said. “I am confident that the analysis of what happened is occurring now and that efforts will be put in place so that it does not happen again.”
