Sometimes the facts just speak for themselves.

That should be the case in the debate over whether the state of Kansas should continue to operate van pools for state employees. The Kansas governor’s office needs to settle this issue, but first, officials need some hard facts about just what this service costs Kansas taxpayers.

The governor announced a couple of weeks ago that the state would discontinue the van pool that provides rides to hundreds of Kansas employees. It was said to be a cost-saving measure, but the exact financial picture of the program remains unclear.

After the fact, the governor’s office released some figures on how much the program had cost to operate last year compared with how much money was paid by van riders. Those figures showed a deficit for the year but didn’t include any multiyear accounting for items like vehicle replacement, which presumably would vary from year to year.

People riding the vans responded that they had been told, and in fact signed documents, indicating they were paying the entire cost of operating the van pool. Some even raised questions about how their money had been spent and wondered whether they should get some sort of rebate on their contribution toward purchasing replacement vehicles.

So, what’s the answer? The van pools not only are convenient for many state employees from Lawrence and other cities, but help ease the parking crunch near the Capitol. Most Kansans probably would agree that the state shouldn’t subsidize the system for employees, but if the commuters are willing — as they thought they were — to cover the whole cost of the program, it seems like a win-win situation.

Unless the state has some other reason to kill the van program, it should be willing to work with a truly self-supporting plan. If there are other reasons to eliminate the vans, those should be revealed.

The only way to make an intelligent decision on this issue is to look at the numbers, over a period of years, perhaps even the entire history of the program, and see if the van-pool program is self-supporting or a burden to taxpayers. If some sort of independent audit is the only way to get those numbers on the table, one should be undertaken.

Legislation was introduced Monday by local legislators — both Republicans and Democrats — seeking to override the governor and prevent the van program from being phased out. That’s a political solution, but whether the governor or the Legislature ends up making this decision, it should be based on the hard data.

Sgt. Friday on the old “Dragnet” television series knew the only way to get to the bottom of a case was to get “Just the facts, ma’am.” Once the financial facts of the state van pool are on the table, the next action should be obvious.