The Boston Public Schools’ system is receiving a $4 million infusion from the New York-based Wallace Foundation for arts-focused education. The grant adds to $4 million provided by local philanthropists and public money for the Arts Expansion Initiative, which started in 2009.

EdVestors, a Boston organization launched in 2002 by philanthropists and businessmen to focus on education reform, will manage the grant, according to the school department. The Wallace Foundation’s grant was announced on Wednesday afternoon at the Lilla Frederick Middle School on Columbia Road.

When the effort was launched three years ago, two-thirds of students up to grade 8 were receiving weekly arts education. At the high school level, about a quarter of students had access to arts education. “It was sort of scattered across the system,” said Laura Perille, executive director of EdVestors. The school department reports that it has annually increased spending on arts teachers by $2 million.

Currently, nine out of ten students up to grade eight are receiving an arts education, and the percentage of high school students has risen to 54 percent from 26 percent.

At the Frederick Middle School, 96 percent of students reach the benchmarks of an arts education on weekly basis, up from 50 percent in 2009, according to Perille. The school has four arts teachers and partnerships with the Huntington Theater and the Boston Ballet.

“That shows the progress we’re making when it comes to art activity in the Boston Public Schools, making sure that kids have that opportunity,” said Mayor Thomas Menino.

Perille said the Wallace Foundation grant will allow the initiative to build a “long term system” with better coordination with the curriculum and partnerships. Menino chimed in that studies show children involved in the arts fare better on standardized tests. “It’s a continual effort to make sure all our children have the ability to connect with the cultural community,” he said. “It’s a well-rounded lifestyle. Not just school, not just homework, but also the cultural community, the arts community.”

Current supporters of the arts initiative include the Boston Foundation, the Barr Foundation, and the Klarman Family Foundation, according to EdVestors.

“Arts learning opportunities have been diminishing over the last three generations of school children,” Will Miller, president of the Wallace Foundation, said in a statement. “The Wallace Foundation is looking forward to working with its partners in Boston who are testing new approaches to reverse this trend, and to learning with them about how to best strengthen arts learning in school districts.”