Sanford doesn't know whether he will sign, veto or let the bill become law without his signature, spokesman Chris Drummond said.

"The governor's legal staff is concerned that this bill does not meet the constitutional requirement that every act 'shall relate to but one subject,' " spokesman Will Folks said in a written statement.

The office responded to questions raised Thursday by state Sen. John Kuhn, R-Charleston, primary sponsor of the Teacher Protection Act. The bill makes serious assaults against teachers, administrators and other school employees a felony, rather than a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Kuhn said it would make classrooms safer at no cost to taxpayers.

The bill cleared the General Assembly on June 3. It would take effect as soon as Sanford signs it.

In April, Sanford included the Teacher Protection Act in a list of bills he wanted legislators to pass, so "we obviously support it," Folks said.

The bill sent to the governor's desk, however, differed from the bill on his wish list. The final version also would create the state Military Preparedness and Enhancement Commission and allow all military personnel stationed in South Carolina, and their dependents, to pay in-state college tuition.

Sanford has been an outspoken opponent of "bobtailing," a practice in which legislators combine unrelated bills and pass them as one.

"If he wants to intentionally hurt the teachers of South Carolina for an esoteric ideology that is not relevant in this particular case, so be it," Kuhn said Friday.

The Teacher Protection Act, first filed in 2003 and co-sponsored by 14 other senators, died toward the end of last session after legislators tacked other bills onto it, Kuhn said."The House recognized it was a popular vote and loaded it down with so much stuff that it died," he said.

So, on the next-to-last day of the session, Kuhn took the version of his bill that already had received preliminary approval and tacked it onto the military bill. The combined proposal passed.

"It's unfortunate that Senator Kuhn and others like him who supported this bill could not get a clean version of the legislation to the governor's desk," Folks said.

The governor didn't necessarily disagree with any portion of the bill, but that's not the issue, Drummond said.

Kuhn responded, "I think this is another example of the governor not working with the General Assembly to move this state forward."

He said he agrees with the governor's stance on bobtailing. "But all three items in this bill happen to be excellent, so this is not a bill upon which to take a rigid and harmful stance," Kuhn said. "They've got a bill on their desk vital to the safety of classrooms. What if we have a teacher injured in one of these school fights next week? Why waste time?"

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