Teachers Union Sues DeVos Over Embattled Loan Relief Program

One of the nation's largest teachers' unions sued the U.S. Education Department on Thursday over a federal program that promises to forgive student loans for public workers but has been beset by problems. The American Federation of Teachers filed a federal lawsuit in Washington alleging that the department has mismanaged the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, violating the Constitution by denying applicants their due process rights. The program was created in 2007 and promises to forgive student loans for graduates who made 120 monthly payments while working as teachers, nurses, police or other public workers. But just 1% of more than 86,000 applications had been approved for loan forgiveness as of March 31, according to Education Department data, while thousands were told they had not made enough loan payments or were missing paperwork. The union says the Education Department routinely makes errors while processing applications and has no appeals process for those who are wronged. The suit targets the department and Secretary Betsy DeVos.