In this file photo from last year, Shelton Bishop and other 5th grade students reach up while they participate in a yoga class at Flora Vista Elementary School in Encinitas.

The group funding a yoga program that has brought national attention to the Encinitas Union School District now wants to more than double its original contribution to expand such classes for the coming school year.

Trustees for the district are scheduled to meet Wednesday morning to consider accepting a $1.4 million grant from the Sonima Foundation, formerly called the Jois Foundation.

Some parents had sued the district in an effort to stop the yoga classes, which they argued were based in Eastern religions and inappropriate for public schools.

The suit, filed by Dean Broyles of the Escondido-based National Center for Law & Policy, gained national media attention and is believed to have been the first of its kind in the country.

San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer ruled in favor of the district on July 1, but also said it appeared the Jois Foundation was on a mission to get Ashtanga yoga taught in public schools. Broyles could not be reached Tuesday but has said he likely will appeal the decision.

Ashtana yoga was introduced in the United States, beginning in Encinitas, by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. A religion scholar who testified in the trial said Ashtanga is more religious than other types of yoga, but Meyer ruled that the modified EUSD yoga was a secular form of exercise.

The Jois Foundation gave the district a three-year, $533,000 grant to create the yoga program, which was introduced in five schools last year and broadened to all nine schools in the district in January.

Superintendent Tim Baird said Tuesday that the foundation already gave more money to the district since the initial grant to pay for expenses, such as equipment in the classroms The new funding, if accepted, would go toward hiring more yoga teachers at schools from 10 to 18, providing two teachers at each site for grades K-6, he said.

Were hiring more teachers so we can ensure all students get access to the twice-a-week yoga program, Baird said.

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New grant to expand yoga program in EUSD