Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in Washington and the author of the book "The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness." Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely her own. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) Thanks to the diligent work of journalists at NPR, thousands of American teachers are about to see their financial lives vastly improve.

A Department of Education (ED) program meant to benefit teachers who work in under-served areas went haywire and converted a great many educational grants into loans, in many cases throwing underpaid public educators suddenly into crushing debt.

NPR investigated, and after it published a story on the glitch the ED announced it would right the program's wrongs -- at least sort of.

Jill Filipovic

This is good news for those teachers, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said it's "urgent that these mistakes are fixed." But don't give the Education Department too much credit. They don't deserve applause for fixing their own confusing, unfair system that resulted in a massive screw-up. That is the most basic of obligations.

Instead, the ED should go a step further and make sure that all people affected by these loans are made whole -- and double down on their commitment to public education.