A banking error has caused dozens of Florida teachers trying to cash their state-issued $1,000 bonus checks to receive the shocking message: “insufficient funds.”
Disaster relief payments issued to at least 50 teachers in 22 different Florida counties bounced because of the JPMorgan Chase error, Florida Department of Education spokesman Jared Ochs said. Officials say they’re working to fix the problem.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and are working to correct it, including refunding any fees incurred by the recipients as a result,” JPMorgan Chase spokesperson Allison Tobin Reed said in a statement to the Times/Herald.
Reed said the mistake impacted “a small number of people out of 176,000 payments made.”
“The impacted individuals have been identified and we are diligently working to correct this banking error expediently,” Ochs said.
State Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, brought the error to attention when he tweeted a photo of a teacher’s return item notice that was received after trying to deposit the check.
Any Florida teachers out there whose bonus check bounced? pic.twitter.com/cKhyKlE8ja
— Senator Jason Pizzo (@senpizzo) September 24, 2021
“Any Florida teachers out there whose bonus checks bounced?” Pizzo asked.
The banking error was confirmed by the state shortly after Pizzo’s tweet got attention on social media.
Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said the state should have made people aware of the issue before being called out about it on Twitter.
“If there hadn’t been any social media attention, how long would it have taken for them to tell us?” Driskell said. “To me, it is embarrassing to see a check from the state with the governor’s signature bounce. It is embarrassing.”
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Funded by federal COVID-19 relief money, the bonus payments to teachers, principals and first responders received bipartisan support in the Florida Legislature this past spring. But some criticized Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for hiring a private company to print and mail the checks, along with a letter signed by the governor, instead of sending money to local school districts to distribute.
Pizzo tweeted later Friday, “Teaching moment: The individual political benefit in spending $3.6 million to print and send thousands of checks with your name on it, is outweighed by the more efficient and fiscally responsible option of direct deposit.”
