Stephanie Mullaley

Introduction

Stephanie Mullaley is an Iowa educator who worked as a paraeducator and then as a full-time, long-term substitute high school teacher for the Clinton Community School District, beginning in 2022. In May 2026 the district fired her after an administrative law judge found she had offered students extra credit in exchange for cash donations to her personal GoFundMe account, a fundraiser for a medical mission trip to Ecuador she planned to take with her husband. Judge Duane Golden denied her unemployment benefits, ruling that her conduct amounted to job-related misconduct and showed a “willful or wanton disregard” of her employer’s interests. The story drew wider attention when the New York Post reported it on 1 October 2026. Mullaley has not publicly responded to the findings.

Background Information

State records show Mullaley joined the Clinton Community School District, which serves Clinton, a town on Iowa’s eastern border, as a paraeducator in 2022, later moving into a full-time, long-term substitute high school teaching role. During the 2025-26 school year she shared her “personal educational goals” with her students, according to the findings of Administrative Law Judge Duane Golden, who presided over a hearing on her request for unemployment benefits. By spring 2026 she and her husband Nick had been invited to join a medical mission to Ecuador that July, and she launched a GoFundMe with an $1,800 goal toward “transportation, including flights, buses, and boats, food and hotel accommodations.”

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims in this section come from the findings of Iowa administrative law judge Duane Golden in an unemployment-benefits proceeding and from newsroom reviews of state records, which reported substantiating them. They were never admitted by Mullaley, never criminally charged, and never adjudicated in court. Mullaley has not publicly responded to them; the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported it was unable to reach her for comment.

In the spring of 2026, Golden found, Mullaley told her students she had set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for her education, and that if they made cash donations they could earn extra credit toward their grade in her class. His written findings state: “(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.” Some of the students in the class did contribute funds, according to Golden’s findings.

The fundraiser was framed as “a unique opportunity to travel to Ecuador,” where Mullaley wrote she would be “interpreting for a medical mission team (and) helping bridge language barriers so that care and compassion can reach those who need it most,” while her husband would be “assisting the team in any way he can.” On Facebook she wrote, “God put this in place for us, and we’re answering it,” adding, “if you can’t financially, we understand and just keep us in your prayers.” The page netted $140 through six donations ranging from $5 to $50 before activity on it was paused.

The district then discovered Mullaley was “using her position as a teacher to pressure students to donate funds,” Golden found, and fired her on 29 May 2026 for allegedly violating its ethics policy. His ruling ties the separation directly to the grades-for-donations promise rather than to any other performance issue.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Golden denied Mullaley’s unemployment benefits once her solicitation of students came to light, finding the conduct demonstrated a “willful or wanton disregard” of her employer’s interests and made her ineligible. Her fundraiser has since been deleted. The case broke locally through the Iowa Capital Dispatch on 29 September 2026 and went national the next morning, when the New York Post’s account of the ruling drew more than 5,000 shares within a day. No criminal charge exists in the case; the only adjudication of the conduct is Golden’s administrative benefits ruling.

Current Status

Mullaley remains dismissed from the Clinton Community School District, and Golden’s denial of benefits stands as issued, with no appeal reported in available coverage. She has made no public statement on the firing or the ruling, and nothing in available reporting indicates a return to teaching. The mission trip itself was scheduled for July 2026; whether it took place is not addressed in available reporting.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The firing ended her four-year run in the district, from paraeducator to long-term substitute, and the misconduct label on her benefits ruling is a public state record rather than a private personnel file, reported statewide by the Iowa Capital Dispatch and picked up nationally. Any future employer vetting her Iowa work history would encounter a ruling that characterizes her classroom conduct as a “willful or wanton disregard” of her employer’s interests.

Sources

New York Post, “Iowa teacher Stephanie Mullaley fired for pressuring students to donate to GoFundMe in exchange for extra credit,” 1 October 2026, source
Iowa Capital Dispatch, “Judge: Fired teacher offered students extra credit in return for cash donations,” 29 September 2026, source
@nypost on X, “Iowa teacher fired after offering students extra credit in exchange for donations to fund her Ecuador trip,” 1 October 2026, source