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California education official resigns for violating state policy by living in Texas: report
A Californian education official resigned from her post because she lives in Texas, which is against state policy. Pamela Kadakia of the California Department of Education (CDE) resigned due to a state policy that state employees must reside in California unless their job requires them to live elsewhere. Kadakia served as an equity project manager. She also lives in Texas, which is on a list of prohibited state-funded travel for California employees due to discriminatory laws, Politico reported. PARENTS OUTRAGED AFTER TEACHER MOCKS ‘BIGOTS,’ ‘EVANGELICALS’ IN DR. SEUSS-SYTLE POEM AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING “We sought to ensure that all our personnel were in line with the new guidance,” the department…
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California education official resigns after working from Texas
An empty Hollywood High hallway on Sept. 8, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. | Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images By SUSANNAH LUTHI 12/23/2021 02:48 PM EST Updated 12/23/2021 06:02 PM EST 2021-12-23T06:02-0500 A second high-ranking California Department of Education official has resigned because she lives out of state. Pamela Kadakia served as a CDE equity project manager but resides in Texas, based on public records and her LinkedIn profile. Her exit follows the departure of Daniel Lee, a Philadelphia-based psychologist, life coach and long-time acquaintance of California schools chief Tony Thurmond, who was involved in Lee’s hiring. Lee was the state’s first superintendent of equity and earned more than $161,000 annually. Lee,…
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California education official resigns amid criticism over East Coast residency, hiring process
Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco, Calif. is pictured. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images SACRAMENTO — A highly-paid California education administrator who led the state’s equity program from his Philadelphia home has resigned amid criticism over his long-distance status and how he was hired. The departure comes after POLITICO reported Daniel Lee was named California’s first superintendent of equity last year despite living on the East Coast and running his own business there. California’s human resources department told POLITICO that state workers can live elsewhere only under rare circumstances where out-of-state residency is required for the job, such as staff lobbying Congress in Washington, D.C. California Department of Education spokesperson…
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Billions of California education dollars unaccounted for
It’s been eight years since then-Gov. Jerry Brown restructured California’s school funding formulas to direct billions of dollars to the state’s neediest students. But, in 2019, state Auditor Elaine Howle confirmed what critics had been saying for years: State and local tax money allocated under the formula had apparently been used instead to boost overall spending throughout school districts. It wasn’t exactly clear where the money had gone once it reached the districts. Howle’s findings are reinforced by a new report this month from Policy Analysis for California Education, an independent research center that draws from Stanford, University of Southern California and the University of California campuses at Berkeley, Davis…
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Homeschooling applications in California more than double amid COVID-19 school closures | California
(The Center Square) – The number of California parents who elected to homeschool their children amid the COVID-19 pandemic increased significantly last school year. Data released by the California Department of Education on the number of parents who applied to homeschool their children in the last school year shows 34,715 affidavits filed to homeschool at least one child. In the 2018-19 school year, 14,548 applied. An additional 3,215 people submitted private school affidavits, which would allow them to operate schools with six or more students. This could be because of the increase in groups of parents privately schooling their children in groups that became known as “pandemic pods.” The Coalition…
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California Settles with Online School for Allegedly Deceptive Financing Practices | Goodwin
On April 26, 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced that it had entered into a settlement agreement with an online coding school, resolving allegations that the school engaged in deceptive acts and practices in violation of California’s new Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL). The school offers its students the option to finance their education through a contract in which the student promises to repay the school based on a percentage of the student’s future income. This contract has a provision that states, “this extension of credit is a qualified educational loan and is subject to the limitations on dischargeability in bankruptcy contained in Section 523(a)(8) of the…
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Homeschooling continues to increase in California amid the pandemic
Many students are continuing to learn virtually due to COVID-19. But data from the California Department of Education shows that more families are transitioning to homeschooling. Martin Whitehead has homeschooled his children for 20 years. He’s also on the board of the Homeschool Association of California. “Our website hits have doubled to tripled the presence and questions on our social media have doubled and tripled versus last year,” said Whitehead. Whitehead explained there are a few options to choose from when transitioning to homeschooling. One way is establishing your own private school. This requires filing an affidavit with the state usually between Oct. 1st to Oct. 15th. Data shows that…
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