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LA Unified announced today that the district has received an $11.3 million federal grant to boost adult education programs throughout the district.

The Federal Workforce Investment Act grants are intended to expand access to Adult Basic Education classes, high school subjects, English as a second language and citizenship.

“The Workforce Investment Act and the awarding of this grant will make a concrete difference in the lives of LAUSD families,” school board member Steve Zimmer told LA School Report.

“It allows for significant partnerships and collaboration where the school district’s adult and career education programs can provide skills and training through the City of Los Angeles and the Building Trades Council for real work and apprenticeship experience,” Zimmer said.

Numbers available on LA Unified’s web site show 256,000 adult students were enrolled in 2012-13. But Zimmer, who last year chaired the Adult Education Ad Hoc Committee, estimates that number is down to 150,000 due to cuts.

The district’s Adult Education was cut back throughout the recession and the entire program was on the verge of extinction in 2012. But current spending has stabilized at  $94.4 million. The new injection of money increases the budget by 12 percent.

“These funds will help adults learn to read, write, and speak English so they can find good jobs to support their families and become more productive members of their communities,” State Superintendent Tom Torlakson said in a statement.

A total of $86.2 million was available in this round of funding, which went to 197 local districts, educational agencies, libraries and nonprofits. As the largest school district in the state, LA Unified received the biggest block grant of any school system.