Window installers, arts coordinators and new teachers for children who have learning disabilities are among the jobs credited to North Dakota's $571.2 million share of federal stimulus money, a new state report says.

The report, which tries to quantify the economic effects of the federal spending to date, says the stimulus has been responsible for creating or keeping almost 700 jobs.

Sheila Peterson, a North Dakota budget official, said $53.4 million in federal stimulus funds have been spent since July 1 - when the state's current two-year budget period began - through Sept. 30. That equals more than $76,000 per job.

States are required to make reports to the federal government this week to help track the results of the $787 billion stimulus measure. Peterson said she expected more than half of North Dakota's share of the stimulus money will be spent by next summer.

A large part of North Dakota's share is earmarked for construction projects, including $170 million for road construction and repairs, $5 million for the renovation of Minot State University's Swain Hall and $11.2 million for a new education building at the University of North Dakota.

Stimulus money has been used to hire two new forensic scientists to analyze evidence from crime scenes, said Kathy Roll, a financial administrator in the North Dakota attorney general's office. It also will pay for a new, Fargo-based Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent who will specialize in handling computer-crime cases.

Almost $55 million in federal spending is reserved for education programs that help children with learning disabilities and provide reading and math instruction to poor children. So far, the money has been used to hire about 200 teachers, aides and other personnel, the state Office of Management and Budget report says.

Gary Gronberg, an assistant superintendent in the state Department of Public Instruction, said the money is helping to reduce class sizes and give more children access to services. It has also helped relieve federal underfunding of special education, Gronberg said.

North Dakota's Department of Commerce reported that $25.3 million in federal weatherization assistance money can be credited with 30 jobs. The positions are "mainly installers of various energy conservation products, such as windows, weather-stripping, and insulation," the report says.

Another $12 million will finance construction of a water treatment plant near Zap, in Mercer County in west-central North Dakota, to supply water to towns, rural farmsteads, coal mines and energy plants in the region.

The plant is part of the Southwest Water Pipeline, a project intended to bring Missouri River water to communities in southwestern North Dakota. Tim Freije, the pipeline's project manager, said the infusion of federal cash will allow the new development to be finished about two years earlier.

"It makes it a lot easier, having this up front," Freije said. "The timing on it was just about perfect for us."

Some grants are relatively small. The state Council on the Arts is using $250,000 to pay for nine arts administration and technical support workers at a dozen local arts organizations. The state Indian Affairs Commission is receiving $18,000 to explore ways to preserve Indian languages and dialects.

Dave Glatt, environmental health chief in the state Department of Health, said the agency has $1.73 million for grants to help schools buy new school buses capable of burning diesel fuel more cleanly.

Another $7 million is reserved for expanding a rural water district in Ransom, Sargent and Richland counties in southeastern North Dakota.

Drinking water in the area often has elevated amounts of arsenic, the result of a grasshopper-poisoning program in the 1930s, Glatt said. The water district work will help to meet new Environmental Protection Agency standards on arsenic levels in drinking water.

"We were looking at several more years to finish this expansion," Glatt said. "This will just accelerate it."