COLUMBIA, S.C. - Rural school districts would have a less expensive way to borrow money for school construction under a bill that passed a House subcommittee Tuesday.

The bill establishes the South Carolina School Facilities Infrastructure Authority and creates a revolving loan fund to finance construction of facilities in districts with a high number of low-income students and limited property tax bases.

It authorizes the state to issue $300 million in school facilities bonds to those districts.

"It's not a gift," said Rep. Herb Kirsh, D-Clover, co-sponsor of the measure. "It's going to be a low-cost loan."

He said the authority's board will issue loans with interest rates as low as 1 to 3 percent.

The sales and income tax subcommittee sent the bill to the Ways and Means committee pending clarification on its immediate fiscal impact. Several lawmakers said they would withdraw their support of the bill if it would pull any money from the general fund.