The Pinellas County school board counted 245 emails as of Monday afternoon from people who support the board's majority vote to stop funding a character education program offered by a subsidiary of the Boy Scouts of America.

Equality Florida asked its members and supporters to send a form email with the subject line "You have my support" to board members registering appreciation for their decision not to spend $54,838 in money earmarked by the state legislature specifically for Learning for Life.

Board member Linda Lerner, who has opposed funding the program for more than a decade on the grounds that the Boy Scouts have a policy of banning homosexuals, won the support of three other board members last Tuesday to discontinue the grant this year. The district has already announced plans to replace the program in the affected schools.

According to the board's administrative assitant, the emails have come from various cities within Pinellas County as well as from Miami Beach, Hudson, Bradenton, Stuart, Gainesville, Wesley Chapel, Tampa, Lutz, Riverview, Lake City, Zephyrhills, Sarasota, Spring Hill, Land O'Lakes and even as far as Windsor, Conn.