Gov. Mark Sanford rightly bills as a good thing his proposal to reduce, from 86 to six, the number of categories under which schools get state money. But neither Sanford nor the dozens of legislative co-sponsors should pretend that this proposal would fix S.C. public school finance.

As Sanford says, school districts will benefit from greater flexibility to transfer money among accounts - a key feature in the bill. But only by adding money to the state school-aid formula can Sanford and legislators ensure S.C. public schools will have the wherewithal to meet the state's bold school-improvement goals.