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School officials are looking at creative ways of replacing the state's school bus fleet, without spending tax payer dollars. 

"We have the oldest bus fleet in America," said State School Superintendent Jim Rex.  "Which means it's also the most inefficient bus fleet."

Officials want to turn one state's throwaways into treasures for South Carolina.  State Superintendent Jim Rex says the Department of Education will replace South Carolina's old buses with newer versions, straight from the Bluegrass State.

"We think we'll get enough to pay for 85, 18-year-old buses, that we are purchasing from Kentucky that they are retiring," said Rex.

And the money for the newer fleet will not come from taxpayers.  Instead officials will first recycle what they can from the older models. 

"Any of the components we can take out of the bus we do," said the Director of Transportation for the South Carolina Department of Education.  "We turn it into scrap metal and we sell it as scrap metal."

That metal is expected to generate nearly $455,000.  Tudor says the money will be used to purchase the newer fleet.

"It's a temporary thing we can do to just gradually, in a minor way, improve the age of the fleet," said Tudor.

Officials have been reflecting on the improvements for quite some time.

"This old fleet is getting older and older and older," said Rex.  "And what we're trying to do is be creative short-term."

Back in 2007, lawmakers approved a plan to replace the bus fleet every 15 years.  But no money has been set aside to buy new ones for two years.