South Carolina would test drive Gov. Mark Sanford’s tuition tax credits in two school districts for 11 years under a program approved by a House panel Monday.

The pilot program was offered as a compromise to a sweeping — and much debated — proposal to give parents tax breaks to send their children to private school.

But such a drastic change to one of his top legislative priorities didn’t sit well with Sanford.

“That seems like a far cry from the kind of school choice South Carolinians deserve,” spokesman Will Folks said, adding the governor would continue to push for an expanded program.

The proposal has divided lawmakers since it was first pitched last year. Backers say it would fix the public schools; opponents say it would wreck them.

The original bill would allow parents to take tax credits for home-school expenses or so that their children could transfer to private schools or another public school.

Lawmakers voted 13-9 to let the state Department of Education pick two test districts — one rich and one poor. One district would be chosen from the top 25 percent according to median income and one would come from the bottom 25 percent.

The pilot would take effect next year and expire in 2017.

The full House could vote on the plan, suggested by Rep. Adam Taylor, R-Laurens, this week.

The vote represented a bittersweet victory of sorts. But neither side was happy.

Proponents said a pilot program would give opponents a chance to kill the plan.

“We’re very happy something is going to the floor” for the full House to debate, said Denver Merrill, spokesman for the pro-tax credit group South Carolinians for Responsible Government. “We’re not happy with the pilot.”

Opponents said the tax credits would allow an “open raid” on the state’s piggy bank, and would help people who already have children in private school the most.

The plan doesn’t provide transportation for students or require private schools to follow the same accountability standards as public schools. Lawmakers rejected amendments that would have required both.

“This proposal continues to be a bill of abandonment of the public schools,” said Debbie Elmore, spokeswoman for the S.C. School Boards Association.

If it passes, lawmakers would put the state Department of Education in the position of setting up a plan its superintendent and many of its schools oppose.

Merrill said proponents fear that education officials would do what they can “to make sure the pilot program will fail.”

Folks agreed: “I mean, two school districts chosen by the Department of Education?”

But spokesman Jim Foster said the education officials would follow the law.

Other amendments lawmakers agreed to would protect firefighters in case the tax credit drained their budgets. Another prevented people from donating more than $10,000 to private school scholarships under the bill.

Lawmakers debated almost three hours over whether the bill would help poor children or resegregate the public schools.

They considered 14 amendments, including one to create a voucher for low-income parents. It narrowly failed.

Reach Talhelm at (803) 771-8339 or jtalhelm@thestate.com.