School officials are looking warily into the fiscal future because temporary federal stimulus funding is only preventing budget cuts, not building programs or supporting employees.

State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick and school chiefs from across the state, including county Schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell, told the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee in Annapolis Thursday that the stimulus money is not a panacea, and they are trying to avoid building a "house of cards."

The state's fiscal 2009 and 2010 budgets include $2.5 billion in federal funds - $296 million for education - but those dollars are...