Yoga conflict stretches parents’ patience

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.

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On June 21st. protesters showed their opposition to the Encinitas Union School District’s plan to continue funding to their controversial yoga program.

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.

“It still is a bit of a poison pill,” said Michael Rodin. “There are a lot of us that are going to be sad if the yoga program goes away, but we have other priorities.”

The school board voted 4-1 in favor of Baird’s proposal, with board member Gregg Sonken opposed. He said schools should have local control over what special instruction they offer.

“I have to vote without the enrichment teachers,” Sonken said. “I feel that each school site has to make the decisions about what enrichment teachers they want to have at their school, whether it’s P.E., art, science or yoga.”

Some parents also said that even with $384,000, there would still struggle to pay for specialized instruction. Under the revised plan, all enrichment teachers will earn $32,000. But while the district will pay 100 percent of yoga instructors’ salaries through its health and wellness program, it would cover just 40 percent of salaries for teachers of other subjects.

In a complex concession, the board stipulated that all students must get one weekly session of yoga, but that health and wellness instructors could be assigned to teach other subjects in a second session.

The school yoga program has sparked fierce debate, first in a 2013 lawsuit that challenged it on religious grounds, and now by parents who complain that it’s a misuse of school funds. But it also drew support Tuesday from parents and students who say the relaxation and visualization training helps kids stay calm in school.

Those supporters had been quiet until now. Board members said last week that they had been deluged with complaints about the program, but hadn’t heard from parents or students who wanted to keep it.

Jacqueline Rossow told the board Tuesday that the school yoga program was a selling point when she moved to the area with her family.

“We ended up here because of your health and wellness, your gardening programs,” said Jacqueline Rossow. “In a world of a lot of test-taking — we now have really serious tests in third grade — my daughter was able to handle that because of the yoga program. She was able to breathe deeply and did very well.”

Fourth grader Georgia Sporrer, 9, asked the board to preserve the yoga program, saying she enjoys the visualization exercises, and the accompanying character building lessons have improved her confidence.

“I think it helps your body and your mind in both ways,” she said.

Seventh grader Andrew Loren, however, who just promoted from Olivenhain Pioneer School, said he would rather use the money for textbooks and science teachers.

“The government shouldn’t be spending our tax money on yoga,” said Loren, 12. “They should spend it on educational things so we can learn.”

Parent Robert Duran, who attended the meeting with his three-year-old daughter Lauren, said he supports yoga, but is skeptical of the spending.

“It’s not about yoga,” he said. “I practice yoga. I’m a pancreatic cancer survivor. Yoga brought my body back, and I understand the value of yoga, physically and mentally. But the board has the obligation to make sure the core subjects are funded — math, language arts, science — before they fund something that’s not core.”

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com (760) 529-4941 Twitter@deborahsbrennan