COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford's centerpiece school choice program hit a major snag in the House budget committee where it was scaled back Monday to apply to only two districts instead of all the state's schools.

Sanford backs using tax credits to cover tuition at private schools. He has said the move will inject competition into education.

Last week, a report from the state's chief economist said tax breaks would cost South Carolina as much as $231 million in revenue in five years. That Board of Economic Advisors fiscal impact study cooled enthusiasm for the legislation.

Supporters tried to amend the bill Monday to address those concerns. For instance, they dropped a proposal that would have let businesses and individuals give unlimited contributions to scholarship granting groups instead of paying state income taxes. But their compromise failed on a tie vote.

Instead, Rep. Adam Taylor, R-Laurens, convinced the House Ways and Means Committee to create a two-district pilot program. The Education Department would pick school systems from the state's wealthiest and poorest school districts. He also cut back the donation break for the scholarships, capping tax write-offs at $10,000.

Those compromises were needed "to allow this bill to move forward to the full floor for debate," said Taylor, who added he has been targeted politically by supporters of the bill.

But that compromise isn't nearly enough, Sanford spokesman Will Folks said.

"We're going to keep pushing for as many choices for as many parents as possible," Folks said. The bill hitting the floor "certainly is a far cry from the kind of school choice that parents deserve," Folks said. At the same time, the limits on scholarships need to be lifted so those groups can be free to help parents and children with school choice, he said.

"We're just happy it's going to the House floor," said Denver Merrill, spokesman for South Carolinians for Responsible Government, the group leading the school choice legislation. Still, "we don't feel a pilot program will give it the chance it deserves," he said.

But even that chance is too much, opponents say.

The state six years ago passed one of the nation's toughest school accountability laws, Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum said. But the House budget committee refused to include accountability requirements for private schools in the pilot program.

"It's a terrible message to send to public schools who have worked against all odds to produce results," she said. The House should kill the bill because it is "bad public policy. It's bad fiscal policy," Tenenbaum said.

The South Carolina School Boards Association agrees.

"A bad bill is a bad bill," association spokeswoman Debbie Elmore said. With the bill emerging from the committee with a 12-9 vote, opponents hope to stop it on the House floor. "Obviously it doesn't have tremendous support," Elmore said.

Denver said supporters would try to move the legislation back to a statewide school choice program on the floor. But that's unlikely.

The original bill "was too much to try to do at once," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said. "I don't anticipate the bill will be changed back on the floor."