By the end of today, Iowa officials plan to submit their plan to the U.S. Department of Education to get almost $472 million in stimulus dollars known as state fiscal stabilization funds, according to Elaine Watkins-Miller, spokeswoman with Iowa Department of Education.

Of that, $386.4 million must go to education. Lawmakers and Iowa Gov. Chet Culver agreed to use that money to provide school districts with 4 percent allowable growth next year and fill other funding holes. The hope is for districts to avoid budget reductions and teacher cuts.

As the state submits its application, which was made available April 1, the feds have already approved and doled out funds for states such as Mississippi, Oregon, Maine, Utah, Minnesota.

Iowa should hear whether its application was approved within two weeks. If it gets the OK from the feds, the money should be made available right away. The state can then hand it out to Iowa districts.

Watkins-Miller said the state plans to release either later today or early next week estimates for how much each district will get from the stabilization funds. People can view them on the education department’s website.