Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Of that amount, it's unclear how much will be coming to the El Paso area.

Gov. Rick Perry and state Education Commissioner Robert Scott released statements Friday celebrating the approval of an application for additional federal stimulus money for education.

But the approval came with a stipulation that could alter the way the state intended to use some of the money.

School districts do not have to use the stimulus money for a state-mandated $800 across-the-board pay raise for teachers and other employees.

The Texas Legislature approved a $30 billion bill that included an additional $3.2 billion in stimulus money and mandated teacher pay raises.

"It does eliminate the mandate that the SFSF (State Fiscal Stabilization Funds) funds be used to pay for the salary increases," said a written statement from the U.S. Department of Education to the El Paso Times.

The $2 billion in stimulus money will be available immediately to the state and should start flowing to school districts on Sept. 1. The state will be eligible to apply for an additional $1 billion this fall.

"Texas can now utilize these funds to save jobs and lay the groundwork for a generation of education reform," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.

The approval of the money for Texas seemed to draw confusion over how the money could be used.

The Texas Democratic Congressional Delegation issued a news release stating that Texas public-school teachers would receive a raise because of the stimulus money.

But U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said that the approved application provides schools with discretion to decide how to use the money and not necessarily to pay for the raises.

Texas Education Agency officials said the money could still be used to fund the increases.

"At this point we think the pay raise is still going to be enacted, but it does sound like we have to clarify that language with the (U.S. Department of Education) to see what it means," spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe said.

School districts that choose to use the stabilization money for something other than pay raises must still carry out the state-mandated salary increases, said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for the governor.

Castle said the state provides enough money to school districts to pay for the raises without stimulus dollars.

Local educators disagree.

They say that budgets are already stretched thin and that if the state insists on the giving teachers and other employees the $800 raises, they may be forced to use the stimulus money to cover the cost instead using the money for other needs.

Ysleta Independent School District Superintendent Michael Zolkoski said he would reassess the district's use of the stimulus money on Monday.

Zolkoski said he worried about how to pay for the raises after the federal stimulus money ran out. He laughed after hearing that state officials said that districts did not have to use the stimulus money for the pay raises but that they still have to fulfill that mandate.

"I am not going to comment on that," he said.

Jimmy Loredo, Ysleta's associate superintendent of finance, said he hoped the state would reconsider its mandate.

"We knew all along that they couldn't do that," Loredo said about funding pay raises with stimulus money. "Everybody knew that except the state, or at least that is what they say."

Zahira Torres may be reached ztorres@elpasotimes.com; 546-6156