BLOOMINGTON - Four rapidly growing school districts in the area are in line for some extra state money, and the Illinois State Board of Education announced Friday the grants are ready for disbursement.

The $7.5 million assistance grant package, to be shared among 43 Illinois school districts with quickly growing enrollments, was OK'd as part of the state's budget approved in August, said education board spokesman Matt Vanover.

However, lawmakers didn't pass the legislation implementing the budget until earlier this month, so that has slowed the process, he said.

The grant means Normal-based Unit 5 - which enrolls about 12,400 students and sees about 3 percent annual growth - is slated to get $280,233 for this school year.

Other area districts and their amounts are: Fisher, $35,600; Dwight Township High School district, $28,536; and Deland-Weldon, $13,657.

"It would be great to get it," said Gary Niehaus, Unit 5 superintendent. "Anytime Unit 5 can get more funds from the state to overcome the growth issues it's a good thing."

The school board will have a say in how the money is spent, he said. But the money is only a fraction of what is needed.

"We welcome this money. But is it enough? Not really. Our growth is not going to stop," said Niehaus.

Previous and predicted growth in Unit 5 has meant a shortage of staff, materials and building space, he said. A $96.7 million construction project and an associated property tax increase to help pay for operating expenses are on the Feb. 5 ballot.

The grants can be used to pay for salaries, books, computers, supplies and classroom materials needed to compensate for rapid enrollment growth.

School districts with at least 10,000 students were eligible for the grant if enrollment increased more than 1.5 percent during the two most recent school years. For the smaller districts, eligibility required a growth of at least 7.5 percent.

When Dwight's enrollments rose two years ago - it's gone from 310 to 340 students - the district had to hire another teacher, Superintendent Dale Adams said.

"We'll probably use our money to recoup some of the costs related to the additional hire we made," said Adams.

Deland-Weldon Superintendent Gary Brashear said he initially didn't think of his district as a fast-growth one because enrollment is only 230 students.

"But when you consider our high school went from 46 to 56, the percentages show otherwise," he said.

He plans to put Deland-Weldon's grant money into the education fund, the district's main operating account.

Public school enrollment in Illinois increased in the last decade by 125,858, or 6.4 percent, according to the state board.