Schools spend $12,000 on 'God' posters

BAKERSFIELD, Calif., Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The Kern High School District in Bakersfield, Calif., is spending $12,000 to put up 2,300 posters in classrooms saying "In God We Trust."

In front of a standing-room-only crowd Monday night, the school board voted 4-1 to approve the plan, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

School Board President Bob Hampton cast the dissenting vote.

"The spiritual side of a student belongs in the home and in the church -- not in the school," said Hampton.

Board member Chad Vegas -- who is also an evangelical pastor -- told the Times the vote means "we're not going to accept the agenda of some radical leftists who want to expunge God from public dialogue."

Vegas -- who last year got the board to change the name of the winter and spring breaks to Christmas and Easter recesses -- has been accused of pushing a Christian agenda into the public schools, the newspaper said. Vegas told the Times the changes merely reflect the conservative leanings of area residents.

"In God We Trust" was made the national motto by the U.S. Congress in 1956.