State Rep. Dave Severin says several school districts in our area will be receiving grant money from the Secretary of State’s School Library Grant Program.

Benton High School along with Christopher, Crab Orchard, Sesser-Valier, Thompsonville and West Frankfort will get $750.

Benton Grade School will receive $819. Carterville will get $1,571.25. Johnston City will receive $794.25. Marion gets $2,875.50.

Severin says the School Library Grant Program is intended to provide more library books and materials for public school students across the state. He added that these funds will greatly help our public schools provide their students with access to quality libraries.

Statewide, the program awarded 1.2 million dollars to public schools. Qualifying school districts had to apply for the grant and have a functional library in the district. The amount of money each district received was based off of school enrollment from the Illinois State Board of Education.