Teaching Profession News in Brief

Citing Mismanagement, AFT Sues DeVos Over Loan Forgiveness

By Madeline Will — July 16, 2019 1 min read
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American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is suing U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, arguing that she has “done nothing to remedy the gross mismanagement” of a federal loan-forgiveness program.

The suit, filed last week in federal court, represents eight AFT members who say they were unable to receive loan forgiveness because of administrative errors and inaccurate information provided by loan servicers.

In the suit, the AFT alleges that the Education Department under DeVos has “saddled [public servants] with exceedingly burdensome student debt” through processing errors and by allowing misdirection from servicers.

Meanwhile, the department has recently changed its rules to forgive the federal loan debt of thousands of teachers. Under the TEACH grant program, many teachers had seen their grants turned into loans.

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A version of this article appeared in the July 17, 2019 edition of Education Week as Citing Mismanagement, AFT Sues DeVos Over Loan Forgiveness

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