Latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Midlands

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- An effort to put a police officer in every public school in South Carolina has hit a financial roadblock.

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel told a House panel Wednesday he thinks school resource officers are the best solution to providing security.

How to pay for them is the question.

The House Education subcommittee postponed voting on a bill that would require an officer in every school almost immediately but provide no money to help pay for it.

Keel calls that unrealistic, noting hundreds of officers would have to be hired and trained.

Jeff Moore of the state Sheriff's Association says legislators need to fund the officers in the state budget, but it would be expensive. Hiring and outfitting them could cost more than $90 million the first year.