Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott said a plan for spending billions of dollars in federal stimulus money on education should be ready late this week or early next week.

He said about two-thirds of $3.9 billion in discretionary education spending money is expected to arrive by the end of March. Scott testified before a House committee overseeing the money Tuesday.

Some $6 billion in federal economic stimulus money for education is heading to Texas. About half will be available for use in a variety of ways on elementary, secondary or higher education. About $700 million will be allocated by the governor.

At the meeting, public education leaders urged committee members to push for the designation of more funds to school districts for teacher training and salaries.

Education leaders cited a growth rate of 80,000 new students a year, saying that number is met by about 50,000 classrooms staffed by teachers with incompatible subject matter certifications, or teachers trained to teach a different subject than they actually teach.

Association of Texas Public Educators government relations director Brock Gregg said the state has a good system for evaluating failing and succeeding schools, but fails to follow through with the funding to improve them.

"Once we identify an underperforming school, we hit it with a whole lot of sanctions, including closing the school down," Gregg said. "But do we require state funds to help them? No. We require the district do that."

Gregg said half of the school districts in the state currently have a deficit budget.

Chairman of the committee Rep. Jim Dunnam said some lawmakers are concerned about allocating the funds because they are not ongoing.

"To use those dollars now, we get it on the way--address it sooner rather than later," Rep. Carol Kent said.

Dunnam also said lawmakers are concerned about how school district will actually use the money.

Gregg said the Texas Legislature can dictate how schools use the funds.

They said Texas ranks 48th in the country, regarding teacher salaries, which they said becomes a serious recruiting problem, and results in a deficiency in math and science teachers.

Some of the federal money is dedicated by law for special education and low-income students.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.