Teacher's union head calls DeVos handling of student loan forgiveness program 'a travesty'
The head of the teachers union suing the Department of Education is slamming Secretary Betsy DeVos, calling her mismanagement of the public service student loan forgiveness program a “travesty” and a “betrayal” to millions of Americans.
Randi Weingarten, who is president of the American Federation of Teachers, filed a lawsuit earlier this month against DeVos. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and is brought by eight union members along with Weingarten and the union itself.
“What Betsy Devos has done is a travesty and a betrayal,” Weingarten, an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s handing of the program, told Hill.TV on Tuesday.
An Education Department spokesperson declined to comment, but called the lawsuit "nothing more than the typical political grandstanding from the union."
The federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was passed with bipartisan support and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007.
The program promises to forgive the remaining balance of federal student loan debt for graduates who have made at least 120 payments and work in a qualifying job for the government or a nonprofit. This includes teachers, firefighters and nurses among other public service workers.
Weingarten emphasized that the current program is in such disarray, that it violates both federal law and the Constitution.
“Why are they not actually saying, ‘wait a second’ — you paid for 10 years, we’re going to find every way to get your loan forgiven,'” she said. “Instead it’s obstacle after obstacle after CONTINUE READING: Teacher's union head calls DeVos handling of student loan forgiveness program 'a travesty' | TheHill