SAN DIEGO (AP) -- San Diego schools have canceled a program that gave shopping gift cards, chocolates and movie passes to cafeteria workers using money from a program to feed needy children.
U-T San Diego says citizen complaints prompted the decision by the San Diego Unified School District.
The district spent $300,000 over the past 12 years to provide incentive gifts for some 1,200 employees. The cafeteria workers earned them by getting points for good performance. They've been told to redeem the points by next Tuesday.
District spokeswoman Linda Zintz says lunch-subsidy money shouldn't have been used for the gifts. She says the district -- which has an $86 million budget hole -- chose not to continue the program using general fund money.
