Waste of the Day: Divisive DEI Chief Gets Raise Instead of Demotion
Topline: After a Congressional investigation into diversity, equity and inclusion in the U.S. military’s school system, the White House promised to reassign DEI Chief Kelisa Wing to a less controversial role.
Instead, they gave her a $10,000 pay raise.
Wing was moved from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) to the Department of Education, where she now earns a $153,000 salary as a senior advisor promoting DEI, OpenTheBooks learned from an open records request.
Key facts: At DoDEA, Wing was charged with planning DEI lessons for the 65,000 children of military service members in Pentagon schools.
She came under fire in 2022 for an online post decrying, “I am exhausted by 99% of the white men in education and 95% of the white women. Where can I get a break from white nonsense for a while?"
OpenTheBooks then found video of staff discussing Wing’s lesson plans, which said children were expected to cry while discussing racial and gender issues.
Wing was reassigned to an “assessment branch chief” role in March 2023 following the backlash, but that announcement turned out to be misleading. Just months later, she was reassigned again, this time to the Department of Education.
Since then, she’s joined podcasts to discuss why children should have lessons on “identity” and “privilege” in their curriculums.
Background: Taxpayer spending on DoDEA’s equity initiatives is not limited to Wing’s salary.
OpenTheBooks identified a $1 million grant to the Goodheart Willcox Company, whose health class books teach children that “people have the power to choose a gender identity.”
Another $2.4 million went to Discovery Education, which trains teachers to discuss “implicit bias and systemic racism.”
DoDEA’s entire budget was $2.23 billion in 2023.
Search all federal, state and local government salaries and vendor spending with the AI search bot, Benjamin, at OpenTheBooks.com.
Summary: Opinions on DEI education are varied, but all taxpayers can agree there should be no secrecy surrounding what is taught in our children’s schools. It should not take an OpenTheBooks investigation to learn where Wing is employed.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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