A summer class held in Boyd Park in Eau Claire.

Monday, the Leader-Telegram reports on a potential conflict between the Eau Claire Area School District board and its administration: elementary art teachers.

Last February, the school board unanimously decided to add art staff to area elementary schools, bolstering a program that’s been hobbled over the past few years by budget reductions. But now, Superintendent Ron Heilmann is saying this isn’t a good time to be spending money on art teachers, and hopes the board will reconsider its decision.

The new art positions would require $157,500 – and this is just part of $832,500 the district would like to spend on new positions in a variety of areas. But staring down an estimated $2.6 million shortfall in next year’s budget makes it hard to see how this can happen. Especially when the shortfall’s already been greatly reduced from the original estimate of $8.8 million – after district workers agreed to a wage freeze and decided to contribute more into their benefit packages.

Anyway, back in February, it was a nice little victory to have the school board backing new art teacher positions, and it’d be a shame to have that decision reversed. The benefits of a solid art program are incalculable. You can read a lot more about that here.