COLUMBIA--Gov. Mark Sanford said Wednesday he thinks lawmakers should study how to fund education before they start to tweak property taxes.

The House and Senate each formed committees this summer to focus on relief for property owners, especially for those being forced out of their homes by skyrocketing taxes along the coast.

"I think, unfortunately, the caboose is leading the train on this one," Sanford said. "You've got to look at what's the driver of this train. The reason property taxes are there is because of education."

The Republican governor told about 50 members of a Kiwanis Club in Columbia that efforts to give property owners a tax break would be the "hot-button" issue of the upcoming legislative session.

"If you want relief ... then how are we going to do it in a way that still provides adequate funding for the education process?" Sanford asked.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said the public clearly wants the Legislature to look at property taxes.

"We have had a long-standing commitment to funding education," Harrell said. "I don't think you have to do one or the other. I believe you can do both at the same time."

Harrell and Senate leaders say there is no simple answer to ease the tax burden.

"We are not going to ignore education, but I'm just not going to put the property owners on the back seat," said Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston. "People's homes are at stake, it's time to act."

The problem is the state's revenue is generated by what lawmakers refer to as a three-legged stool: property tax, sales tax and income tax. By reducing property tax, other taxes need to increase to provide government services.

MARY ANN CHASTAIN/AP Gov. Mark Sanford (right) is greeted by members of the Golden K Columbia Kiwanis before talking Wednesday about property taxes and education funding.

One idea would eliminate property taxes by raising the sales tax or other taxes such as the cigarette tax. Another idea would limit services for which property taxes could be used. Public education could be funded by a different tax.

It would be tough to eliminate property taxes because, on average, they provide 84 percent of local funding for school districts, according to the Senate subcommittee.

Sanford pointed to a lawsuit in which eight school districts claim the state's method of funding schools shortchanges rural districts.

"You've got an equity lawsuit about some counties in some of the rural parts saying 'Wait, we don't have enough,' " Sanford said. "You want to be careful to make sure any of these proposals that they're trying to limit property tax for the big homes on Sullivan's Island ... that you're not therefore loading up more tax on some guy living in a trailer in Hampton County."

But not all the proposals would cost more. One possibility would restrict when values are reassessed to when property is purchased or when a major improvement is made. Another plan would put a cap on how much the assessed value could increase over a period of time.