It would be difficult to find a legislator who is willing to put his child in an outdated, substandard vehicle that might or might not get him to school on time every day. Especially when that vehicle might be belching noxious emissions that are harmful to people and the environment.

But South Carolina’s legislators have been willing to do just that with children across the state who ride to school in buses up to 30 years old.

It’s time to recommit to replacing the state’s oldest school buses that are also the most inefficient and most prone to break down. S.C. School Superintendent Molly Spearman has a plan that the General Assembly should consider a priority this year.

She is proposing in her budget that the state lease to purchase 1,000 buses. The state could replace 175 buses immediately through the State Treasurer’s master lease program and finish paying for them in five years.

If the Legislature rejects the idea, the state would continue to pay far more money to maintain, repair and fuel old buses than it would pay in interest on the loan.

According to the S.C. Department of Education, half of the state’s 5,582 school buses are more than 15 years old. That’s not news to legislators. Indeed, in 2007, they passed a law requiring the replacement of the statewide fleet every 15 years. Doing that would mean purchasing around 380 buses each year.

But the law has largely been ignored, as has a separate 2006 law requiring that unclaimed lottery money go toward buses.

One bit of good news recently is that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated $1.1 million to help South Carolina replace 52 older buses with new ones that burn far less gas and produce fewer emissions.

While that is helpful, the Legislature should not consider the EPA grant an excuse to fall short of its commitment to replace the bus fleet at the pace it chose. And it should make sure that the money is provided annually as required in the 2007 law.

Yes, the state has more needs than it has money. But it is simply not right to let the bus fleet continue to be substandard, year after year after year.

It is not right to put children and bus drivers in unsafe buses, or to deliver children to school late because of breakdowns, or to spend the additional money needed to repair old buses with parts that are no longer manufactured, or to keep producing foul emissions.

As Ms. Spearman said to legislators Monday, the safety of students “starts each morning when the bus arrives and ends when the bus drops students off. We can no longer wait to address the needs of our state’s student transportation system.”

She has worked closely with S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis, who thanked Superintendent Spearman for “being tenacious in her search for the lowest cost financial solution. ... The reduced financial and operating costs will save the state millions, and our school children and bus drivers will be safer.”

More buses, sooner, decreasing the need for costly repairs and fuel — it’s an offer the Legislature can’t refuse.