California education official resigns over out-of-state residency controversy

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Pamela Kadakia, an equity project manager in the California Department of Education, resigned from her position this past week because she is not a resident of the Golden State. Kadakia has been a Texas resident since 2019, but was hired as a California government bureaucrat anyway.

California state laws prohibit public state employees from residing in another state, unless their job requires them to do so.

Fox News reported that she is the second high-ranking California education equity official to resign in recent weeks over state residency. Daniel Lee, an equity superintendent in the same department, resigned in mid-December 2021 when it was discovered that he was a remote worker who resides in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Lee was hired without a public job listing, which is unusual for government jobs, and had an annual salary of $160,000.

Kadakia’s Texas residency also raised concerns because Texas is on the list of prohibited state-funded travel locations for California public employees over alleged discriminatory laws.

What did the department have to say about Kadakia’s resignation?

“We sought to ensure that all our personnel were in line with the new guidance…In doing so, we accepted Ms. Kadakia’s resignation,” the California Department of Education said in a statement.

Her one-month tenure garnered her a salary of $10,400, but when that is multiplied to an annual salary, it means that she could have earned $124,800 from California taxpayers if her Texas residency was not discovered.

Although this is an example of holding public officials accountable, these controversies do not acknowledge the reality that so-called equity initiatives are ingrained in public education bureaucracies. It is up to parents to stand up to equity indoctrination, which advocates for the degrading of education standards, to ensure equality remains in public education.