Two months after President Barack Obama signed the federal stimulus package that is expected to send $2.5 billion to Iowa over two years, relatively little money has been spent.

Part of the reason, state officials say, is they haven’t gotten the go-ahead from some federal agencies. But as is the case with education funds, millions of dollars are idling while Gov. Chet Culver and the state legislature work out a budget.

Also, state agencies themselves are in the midst of implementing their own regulations before distributing the money.

So far, Iowa has spent $72 million in stimulus funds, according to the governor’s office and a check of state agencies doling out the bulk of the money. Nearly all of the spending has been for federal Medicaid expenses that go back to last October and for unemployment insurance costs.

The stimulus law boosted the federal government’s share of the Medicaid program, avoiding significant state cuts to the

program. It also increased funding for unemployment insurance to meet the needs of the state’s rising number of jobless.

Outside those two areas, the only stimulus expenditures in Iowa as of Wednesday have been $2.5 million on road and bridge projects and $3,500 by the Department of the Blind, according to state officials.

The state expenditure total doesn’t include the value of the Make Work Pay tax cuts included in the stimulus package. Those cuts, while not included in the $2.5 billion state officials estimate they’ll get from the stimulus, have begun to show up in worker paychecks.

Local government and private agencies awaiting the influx of federal money say they understand the need for deliberation before shipping it out. But, in some quarters, frustration is starting to set in.

“They told us a couple of months ago it would be two weeks,” said Roger Pavey, executive director of Davenport-based Community Action of Eastern Iowa, whose four-county territory is expected to get $5.8 million in home weatherization funds.

Pavey said he’s eager to get an answer because there will be a deadline by which the stimulus money must be spent.

“I would say it’s very frustrating,” he said. “We’re getting squeezed on our timelines.”

None of the $686.5 million in education funds, which accounts for the largest share of Iowa’s stimulus money, has been spent. Jeff Berger, legislative liaison for the Iowa Department of Education, said the state plans to send out its first payments for special education and Title I programs to districts the first week in May.

Meanwhile, school leaders just found out Wednesday how much money they will receive and how they must spend it, giving them little time to make plans for the funding.

“We are grateful for the stimulus money,” said Julio Almanza, Davenport School District superintendent. “I know the state is working as fast as they can. We have to deal with it. It does get frustrating, but I do understand it.”

School districts may have to wait longer to receive payouts from a larger pot of money called the state fiscal stabilization fund. Most of that money — more than $386 million — is meant to restore funding to schools and public colleges. This year, Culver cut school budgets across the board by 1.5 percent and later proposed cutting districts’ allowable growth for next year to 2 percent instead of the 4 percent previously promised.

The governor has to apply to the U.S. Department of Education to receive the funds, which Culver has yet to do. Berger said that’s because the governor and lawmakers haven’t decided how to spend another almost $86 million in stabilization funds, which can be used to fund other state agencies.

A decision regarding the money could come as early as this week, meaning Culver would then submit the state’s application. If that happens, schools would see their first payment by May or June, Berger said.

“There is frustration all the way around (because of how long this is taking),” Berger said. “It’s better to be frustrated upfront than finding out you did it wrong later. We want to make sure we are doing it right as it comes out of the chute. We need to have our ducks in a row, because a misstep at this point could cause serious problems down the road.”

The state Department of Transportation has been working for weeks to get projects approved. Thus far, about $170 million in projects are under contract, but the money actually spent is $2.5 million, the department said.

Dena Gray-Fisher, a spokesperson, said the metric the DOT is eyeing is not so much the amount of money spent but the amount authorized.

“I think Iowa is doing very well,” she said.

The state does appear to be moving more swiftly than many others in this area. A report released Thursday by the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said the state’s transportation department had obligated 62 percent of its highway and bridge funding as of last week, the second highest percentage of 16 states measured.

Iowa is slated to get $405 million in infrastructure money.

The urgency to spend federal stimulus dollars is acute because the money is aimed at picking up the economy. Iowa has lost 22,000 jobs since last year, and the White House estimates the stimulus plan will create or maintain 37,000 jobs over two years.

At the same time, the administration has warned states to spend the stimulus money wisely and says it will be on guard against waste.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Energy, which administers the weatherization funds, said the agency anticipates allocating the first part of construction funds by mid-July, and there will be a “three-year period of performance.”

Much of the money is being funneled to the states through existing federal programs, some of which are formulating new rules to govern funds distribution.

“The governor believes that the federal government is moving quickly to set the rules and guidelines for each program,” said Troy Price, a spokesman for Gov. Chet Culver. “And as this happens, state government is doing whatever it can to get those funds out the door, as we did with transportation, unemployment and Medicaid funding.”

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, said his office has heard little in the way of complaints about the pace of funding. But he said the “jury is still out” on distribution of the funds, particularly given some of the disappointment in the state over distribution of federal disaster money last year.

“It takes time to turn the Titantic,” said Jeff Giertz, the spokesman. But he added, it still must be done and as quickly as possible.