A teacher has learned the hard way that extra credit is supposed to involve schoolwork, not crowdfunding.
Stephanie Mullaley, a full-time, long-term substitute teacher in Iowa, was fired after allegedly pressuring high school students to help fund her trip to Ecuador in exchange for extra credit.
According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Mullaley was removed from her position at the Clinton Community School District on May 29. The district said she violated its ethics policy.
And yes, the situation sounds like someone accidentally turned a classroom into a travel agency.
Mullaley was reportedly seeking financial help for what was described as a “medical mission” to Ecuador. Students were allegedly encouraged to contribute toward the trip, with extra credit connected to their participation.
Apparently, “finish your homework” was not enough.
Mullaley is accused of offering her students extra credit points if they donated money to her personal GoFundMe account, which was created to send her and her husband, Nick, to Ecuador in July.
“(She) promised high school students in her class that they would receive extra credit toward their grade in her class if they donated to her GoFundMe account. Students felt pressured to donate money to her personal GoFundMe page,” Administrative Law Judge Duane Golden found, according to the outlet.
Mullaley set a $1,800 target goal on the crowdsourcing page, but received a measly $140 from six donations ranging from $5 to $50, the outlet reported.
Imagine sitting in class expecting a quiz and suddenly hearing about international travel expenses. One minute you are trying to remember the difference between a comma and a semicolon, the next minute you are apparently being asked to help finance a teacher’s overseas adventure.
The fired educator said she and her husband had been invited to go on the South American trip but needed financial support from friends and family, according to the since-deleted fundraiser.
“Nick & I are embarking on a journey this summer with a medical mission group,” Mullaley wrote on a Facebook post alongside the link to the defunct fundraiser. “This was only a thought a year ago, and it became real when we got an official invitation end of 2025.
“Feels like a blessing to have an opportunity to serve a community in need of medical service and utilize my skills and serve. God put this in place for us, and we’re answering it,” she wrote. “Hope to have your support, and if you can’t financially, we understand and just keep us in your prayers.”
The controversy also raises an obvious question: What happens to students who cannot afford to contribute?
Mullaley pleaded with her students that the experience would “pay for her education” because it was a “unique opportunity to travel to Ecuador” where she would be interpreting the mission trip.
“Helping bridge language barriers so that care and compassion can reach those who need it most,” and that her husband would be “assisting the team in any way he can,” Mullaley wrote, according to the outlet.
The fundraised money allegedly would have been used to cover transportation, food and hotels.
In the end, the Ecuador trip may have been motivated by a good cause, but according to the district, the way students were allegedly asked to support it crossed a line.
