EL PASO -- Billions of dollars in federal stimulus money for education is on its way to the 50 states, but local school districts still cannot pinpoint specific uses for the money and may have to shorten their wish lists.

Nine El Paso County school districts should receive nearly $100 million in federal stimulus money during the next two years to increase their budgets for low-income and special education programs, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Officials with the Texas Education Agency, however, said that districts cannot make concrete plans for the money until the federal government releases precise rules for creating or sustaining programs.

"We are waiting on guidance for what the money can and can't be spent on," said Debbie Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency.

Ratcliffe said school districts also may not get the full amount of funding they expect because original calculations did not consider about 200 charter school districts throughout the state.

The projected district funding "is really the best-case scenario," Ratcliffe said. "We know those figures are too high."

Still, Ratcliffe said the calculations remain the best guess for what districts may receive.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan this month announced that $5 billion for low-income children and $6 billion for students with disabilities will be distributed to states as early as the end of March.

Funding for low-income and special education programs will be received by the Texas Education Agency, which then will take about two to three months to distribute the money to individual school districts, Ratcliffe said.

For students such as Christopher Green, a senior at Ysleta High School, the money will help his district buy extra supplies for science and math laboratories. Green said that often teachers do not have the resources to plan science experiments.

Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, said that a general set of guidelines provided by the department should allow districts enough information to begin crafting plans. Bradshaw said the department will soon offer more specific guidance but he could not provide a specific date.

"We will be working closely with the districts to help them understand how they can use the funding," Bradshaw said in a telephone conversation from Washington, D.C. "We want to get the money out the door and to the schools as quickly as we can but we want to make sure they use it wisely."

Districts should consider teacher training, aligning prekindergarten programs with state standards, investing in initiatives that develop better math and science skills, and expanding after-school programs, federal officials said.

El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia said that his district is formulating preliminary plans for the stimulus money, despite minimal guidance from the federal government.

EPISD, the city's largest school district, expects to receive about $12.8 million to help low-income students and about $7.5 million for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in each of the next two years.

Federal Title I funding currently allows the district to spend about $618 per low-income child. Projected stimulus money for the program would increase that figure to $858 per student.

"It is a great investment focused at some key areas that really have not been funded," Garcia said.

García said the district plans to invest more than $1 million in technology for elementary reading programs, more than $1 million in science programs and more than $1 million for college readiness software. It would help students build career paths, study job opportunities and assess the colleges that best suit them.

About $1.5 million will also be used for alternative education programs to keep students from dropping out. Money for computer equipment and tutoring has not yet been assigned.

Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott last week created a 22-member task force to make sure that districts are following federal guidelines when using stimulus money.

Federal money is available only through 2011. Districts are to focus on short-term school improvements to avoid having to sustain programs and additional staff once the federal funding ends.

Mary Benham, the interim superintendent for the Socorro Independent School District, said her district is following that advice. Socorro plans to spend the money in three areas: college readiness, staff development and additional tutoring.

Socorro expects to receive $7.4 million in funding for low-income students and $6.3 million for special education programs over the next two years.

The federal government this month announced that the first distribution of money could also help prevent hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs. Benham, though, said that Socorro will not have to use money to avoid layoffs.

"I don't see how that would work since the money is only there for two years," Benham said. "I guess districts could keep people for two years but what happens after that?"

Districts will have to wait to see if extra stimulus money, to be distributed at the discretion of state legislators, will help fund school construction and renovation projects next year.

The Senate in February omitted funding proposed by President Obama for school renovation projects. El Paso districts expected about $75.3 million for construction before the money was eliminated from the stimulus plan. Now the districts must rely on decisions by state legislators to get additional money through State Fiscal Stabilization Funds.

"Part of the disappointment from educators is the state has failed to fund public education adequately," Garcia said.

Jimmy Loredo, associate superintendent of finance for Ysleta, said that as districts wait for news of additional funds, they welcome any opportunity to lessen the burden that has been placed on district taxpayers by state legislators.

"The state certainly hasn't helped us," Loredo said. "The state sat on their hands for the last several years."