East Limestone High School may have its badly needed new gym sooner than expected.

Gov. Bob Riley announced Thursday at Bob Jones High School in Madison that Limestone County Schools will receive the $6.159 million in bond funding it requested earlier this year.

More than half the money — an estimate of between $3.6 and $5 million — will go toward the East Limestone gym project, said Mike Owens, assistant superintendent of county schools.

The remainder will be used to repair or replace roofs on other county schools, Owens said.

Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, who represents parts of Madison and Limestone, said the allocation that came to Limestone County is higher than in many counties because its schools will be impacted by the influx of people from Base Realignment and Closure.

“That was a big award for us and we are tickled with it,” Butler said.

According to the governor’s office, four systems — Madison City, Limestone County, Lee County and Phenix City — received significant funding for new school construction and repair because of BRAC.

“Because Alabama did so well in the latest BRAC round, I know these four systems need extra help to accommodate the higher number of students coming in to their schools,” Riley said.

Owens said he has heard the system should receive funds by late winter.

The funds are part of the $263 million Riley said will be distributed statewide to 46 school systems. Only eight of those systems received more funding than Limestone County, including Madison City, which plans to use its $36 million to partially fund a $65 million high school that will be built by 2012 inside Limestone County, according to Madison City Superintendent Dee Fowler.

Thursday’s announcement is for half the $263 million, with the other 50 percent to be allocated in early 2010.

“Modern and safe schools will help better prepare our students for the future,” Riley said.  “With these bonds, systems can repair, renovate, and construct much-needed schools while also stimulating our economy.”

 State Superintendent of Education Dr. Joe Morton, who was at Bob Jones for the announcement, said bond money made the allocations possible.

“The ability of the state to sell bonds for all school systems at once was brought about by a bill adopted in the special session of the Legislature earlier this year, Morton said. “It gets the money to the systems quicker and at less cost than all 46 systems trying to individually do this—it’s a win-win situation for Alabama.”

The sale of bonds came under a new federal program created by the economic stimulus law. The Qualified School Construction Bond program provides tax credits to bondholders, as opposed to tax-exempt interest, which allows bonds to be offered with no interest.