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Federal stimulus money that will help build Maryland schools is taking an unusual detour through the state's Department of Housing and Community Development.

And other recovery funding is hitting a speed bump.

The Obama administration has yet to release some of the rules in how agencies should spend the money. Because of promises of transparency and accountability on the spending, those rules are taking on greater meaning, county officials say.

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, in Rockville on Monday to meet with the Montgomery County Council, said blips aren't surprising considering the size and scope of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"We expected it to be a challenge to get all this money out effectively," said Cardin (D-Dist. 3) of Pikesville.

On Thursday, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) was at the home of a Silver Spring family, the first to receive weatherization assistance through more than $61 million in recovery money. The money is expected to help more than 9,400 homes reduce their heating bills by a third.

At a rainy press conference at the home of Robert and Sonya Lowery, O'Malley said the weatherization money not only would save residents money, it would reduce pollution and put people to work.

The Maryland state government is in line to receive more than $4.1 billion over the next two years from the stimulus package.

The school money — in the form of "qualified school construction bonds" — hit a snag, because before the state could use the bonds, the General Assembly would have to vote to increase Maryland's indebtedness.

The announcement of the money came late in the session, so lawmakers decided to put off the decision until the 2010 session.

Under the program, the feds will pay the interest on the 10-year bonds. Maryland can build $50.3 million worth of projects, interest free, for two years.

Three other state jurisdictions received separate allotments based on federal funding for needy students. Baltimore city received $58.1 million, Prince George's County got $25.1 million, and Baltimore County received $19.4 million.

Because lawmakers didn't act, the money was going to remain dormant until the middle of next year, Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington said Monday.

But David Lever, executive director of the state's Interagency Committee on School Construction, said he learned Tuesday that the bonds could be issued under the authority of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, meaning they could be forthcoming in the fall.

Cardin said he didn't want the state to wait.

"We want to get the money out quickly. A year would be too late. We want it done before then," he said. "We've got to expedite it. We've got to make it quicker."

The delay to the fall, at least, could be in the state's favor, Lever said. The bonds are unusual — instead of a dividend, they pay in tax credits — and the market might not be ready for it, he said.

So far, only one jurisdiction has issued the bonds, San Diego, and the response wasn't good, Lever said.

"This is the sort of program, because it's brand new, people don't understand it or they're not talking about it," said Jennifer Cohen, a policy analyst for the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan Washington think tank.

Other programs aren't brand new, but they're coming with new rules. The federal government wants to track how many jobs are created with the recovery act, but the Office of Management and Budget hasn't offered guidance on how to count them.

"We're on very high alert. We want to figure out what those new standards are, and we want to know how to meet them," said Kathleen Boucher, assistant chief administrative officer for Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D).

"We've been following this for six months, and it gets more complicated the more you dig into it," she said.