COLUMBIA--Gov. Mark Sanford's $5.3 billion budget proposal shifts money from higher to lower education and from cultural resources to law enforcement.

In his phone-book-sized plan, Sanford proposed 5 percent increases for K-12 education and health services, while chipping away at just about everything else.

"Budgets traditionally answer the questions of where you spend but not what you spend it on," the Republican governor said Wednesday in unveiling his spending blueprint. "This budget breaks down the what do you spend it on question."

Statehouse observers said the budget reflects a more focused approach than Sanford's last offering but that until they read a line-item breakdown, they won't know how realistic some of his proposals are.

Still, House members said many of the governor's proposals will get serious consideration in the upcoming session, as they reflect the policies he's talked about since taking office.

That also means, in typical Sanford fashion, that he dropped his budget tome on some toes. For instance, his budget:

-- Cuts all state money for Charleston's Spoleto Festival, requiring officials to apply for grants for state funding.

-- Gives each agency a pot of money for raises to distribute as it sees fit.

-- Provides no raises for anyone in higher education.

-- Cuts $250,000 for The Citadel to handle ongoing costs of being a co-ed institution.

-- Takes $5 million for the beach renourishment at Hunting Island and gives it to other natural resources.

Dubbed the "Fiscal Fitness Challenge" for 2005, this spending plan fits with Sanford's political philosophy of running government like a business. He wants to curb the dependence on one-time money sources -- as opposed to recurring income -- to plug budget holes at state agencies. His budget pegs state spending to population growth plus the rate of inflation.

Much of the budget goes to furthering Sanford's five primary policy goals: reducing income tax, restructuring state government, offering charter school legislation and tuition tax credits, retooling liability laws and changing Senate rules. Changing the rules isn't a budgetary matter, but it's the key to Sanford's hopes of passing his agenda items. Most of them died in the Senate last year.

Sanford wants more troopers on the road and more guards in the prisons. Those are his most lavish spending increases, aside from K-12 education. To pay the bills, Sanford cuts most agency budgets and uses $100 million in savings wrenched from the current budget. He claims $160 million in savings in his budget.

A sizeable part of Sanford's plan is based on built-in assumptions, which if not realized, could force a deficit. South Carolina, for instance, is forecast to grow 3 percent in fiscal year 2005-2006, starting July 1, but what if it doesn't?

Sanford's spending map -- just a suggestion since the House Ways and Means Committee writes the state's budget bill -- assumes the governor's legislative initiatives, such as restructuring and lowering the state income tax's highest rate, will become law.

That, some lawmakers say, is not necessarily a given. Lowering the top tax bracket would cost $7 million the first year. That plan stalled in the General Assembly last year, and there are no guarantees this year will be different.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said he thinks the House will be receptive to many of Sanford's ideas. "It contains some solid ideas for reducing spending and slowing the growth of government, concepts long supported by the House," he said. "I think many of the governor's budget priorities will be adopted by the House."

Problem may come in the Senate, where most of Sanford's agenda died last year.

The governor says the Legislature should save money like a savvy business. Nothing, including bureaucratic turf, should be sacred.

"Consumers of government don't care about which agency is providing which activity," Sanford said. "What they care about is the actual activity and does it work in improving and helping their lives."

During the fall, the governor held a series of public hearings, which produced recommendations found in his budget proposal. While the budget is designed to spend $5.3 billion, the total state budget is $17.7 billion when federal dollars are included.

The 346-page plan is a lesson in exactitude, though one insider predicted many copies, which went to all legislators, will end up as doorstops. The governor has had notable dustups and little success with lawmakers.

"We don't think the executive branch has a better viewpoint than the legislative branch, just a different viewpoint," Sanford said.

Any success this go-around, some say, depends on Sanford warming up to the people who can make his plan a reality. State Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said, "The governor did a very good job overall. This is absolutely the right way to go about it."

Sanford spent Wednesday hawking his plan to lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. Some Democrats were quick to find fault.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said Sanford's education increases were window dressing to cover the fact that schools will lose money under his tuition credit program.

"This budget shifts money around but doesn't provide enough for public education," he said. "Basically, this governor has no interest in public education. This budget is lean, which may be good for Sanford, but it's a disaster for South Carolina."

Ford predicted dark days for Sanford's grand plans. An outspoken Sanford critic, Ford said lawmakers from both parties are leery of the governor's plans and offended by proposed cuts.

"I think he knows the General Assembly is not going to do that," Ford said. "They are talking to the Democratic Caucus trying to get support. Even Republicans aren't going along with the craziness he proposes."