Monday, March 19, 2012

Mulgrew spells conditions for backing college loan forgiveness | GothamSchools

Mulgrew spells conditions for backing college loan forgiveness | GothamSchools:


Mulgrew spells conditions for backing college loan forgiveness

The UFT would consider supporting Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to pay back the loans of top college graduates who become city teachers — but only under certain conditions.
In a letter to Chancellor Dennis Walcott today, UFT President Michael Mulgrew spelled out what it would take for him to support a loan forgiveness program of the type Bloomberg proposed in January during his State of the City address. At the time, Bloomberg said the city would give teachers in the “top tier” of their college class $25,000 to repay their loans. A Department of Education spokeswoman said Bloomberg’s proposal would likely apply to students in the top quarter of their class.
Other proposals Bloomberg made at the time — closing and reopening 33 struggling schools, increasing the salaries of teachers who earn high ratings in a new evaluation system — immediately drew union censure. But Mulgrew did not dismiss the loan forgiveness proposal.
In today’s letter, he explains what it would take to bring the union on board. The program should be focused as