Yoga classes will continue in the Encinitas school district for at least the next year, but the conflict over the program is likely to stretch on as the district searches for a permanent way to fund it.
At a packed meeting Tuesday, the Encinitas Union School District board approved $416,000 for a health and wellness program centered on yoga practice, as part of its 2016-17 budget.
That amount was scaled back from the $800,000 that Superintendent Tim Baird initially wanted to spend on district-wide yoga instruction, after losing grant funding that previously paid for the program. Instead of devoting all the money to yoga, $384,000 will go toward paying teachers in enrichment subjects such as science, physical education and music.
Baird has called the expenditure “bridge money” that will keep the program going until new grants or funding sources can be identified.
The compromise didn’t appease parents who showed up to protest the expenditure Tuesday. They said the spending plan forces yoga on families who don’t want it and won’t relieve fund-raising pressures on parents, who contribute almost $1 million each year to help fund school programs.
[For more of this story, written by Deborah Sullivan Brennan, go to http://www.sandiegouniontribun...ool-board-yoga-vote/]
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