800 teachers will have to pay back bonus after district mistake

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin Independent School District officials said Monday a "miscommunication" among its human capital staff led to about 800 employees receiving up to $2,000 bonuses they will have to pay back.

District officials previously said the overpayment was a processing error and was meant for only new hires who are taking on hard-to-staff roles, including special education and bilingual teaching staff, as a recruitment incentive.

But records obtained by KXAN show more than a week before the June 30 paycheck was issued, an AISD teacher asked the human capital office whether all secondary math teachers would receive the stipend on their June checks.

Records show a human capital specialist confirmed the teacher was set to receive the stipend.  

The teacher received the bonus on June 30 and on the same day received an email stating she would have to pay back the money either in one lump sum or over four separate paydays.

“This was a good faith mistake at a time when Austin ISD’s Human Capital staff were working overtime to roll out a new Employee Resource Planning system designed to streamline district payments and avoid similar problems in the future,” Austin ISD officials said in a statement Monday.

In November 2022, KXAN uncovered records showing Austin ISD had another payroll error at the start of the school year. Records show delays in onboarding an unprecedented number of new hires led to some Austin ISD teachers not being paid on time, and missing stipend money on their checks.

“There is no excuse for it. Even this far, this many weeks out, we have already started to clean the system so that we are not back in the same situation,” AISD Human Capital Chief Brandi Hosack told KXAN in November 2022.

Hosack told KXAN in November her office planned to launch a new employee management system — automating the onboarding process.

That system became operational on July 1.  

In the June 30 email to employees, Hosack said her office was putting additional validation steps in place to prevent errors.

“Staff have been working evenings, weekends, and even holidays for months to transition to the new payroll system, which is designed to prevent these kinds of issues. We’re making this investment to give staff greater confidence that they’ll receive exactly what they’ve earned when they’re expecting it,” AISD spokesperson Anne Drabicky said.

Tania Tasneem, a 17-year veteran science teacher with the district, said she had not yet spent the money when she was notified by the district of the error. She plans to repay the amount in one lump sum.

“Is it inconvenient? Absolutely. Could I have used that money right now? Absolutely. But it’s also written in our contract that if we get overpaid that we are not entitled to that money,” Tasneem said.

Tasneem said she believes frustration from teachers is coming from those who have been affected multiple times by payroll mistakes and are weary of the new payroll system.

“I think we are struggling with a lack of trust right now. That’s the culture and the climate right now and this doesn’t really help,” Tasneem said. “We understand mistakes happen and we are human beings but moving into a new system I feel like it’s hard to build trust.”