The money is part of the economic stimulus plan, but it’s being held back as punishment for deep spending cuts to education. State spending on schools has fallen four billion dollars over the past two years.

US Senator Bill Nelson met with House Democrats today in Tallahassee. Nelson said the state should know by the end of the week if it’s getting the education money.

“Under the law that we’ve passed, we put that safety valve, which is that the U.S Secretary of Education can waive that requirement. Now, is he going to waive it just straight out? I don’t know. Is he going to put some kind of conditions on it? I don’t know. But we ought to have that coming this week,” said Nelson.

If Florida gets the money, it will be used to renovate schools, update technology, and prevent teacher layoffs.