WEST WARWICK — Stephen Saunders knew he was part of a vanishing breed — a district art supervisor who coordinated programs from kindergarten through 12th grade. He pushed for students to have access to weekly art classes and helped art teachers integrate new techniques and standards into their curriculum, a job he held for 19 of his 35 years as an educator.

But after a round of deep cuts to Warwick’s school budget last year, Saunders’ position was eliminated and he found himself in an extinct group. “I think I was the last full-time arts supervisor in the state,” said Saunders, who now works as an elementary art teacher.

School administrators across Rhode Island are facing tough financial decisions — as well as mounting pressure to boost performance on state tests in English and math. In many cases, districts are cutting music and art programs, calling them luxuries they can no longer afford, say arts educators who gathered yesterday at a conference at West Warwick High School

“But art is not a luxury — it’s a necessity,” Saunders said. Art fosters creativity and imagination — two attributes as vital to the global economy as knowledge and technique, say art educators.

At the day-long biennial meeting of the Rhode Island Art Education Association, more than 100 art educators gathered to learn ways to tap into their students’ creativity; use technologies such as iPods in lessons; and learn how to document student work digitally, in online portfolios.

They also came together to lament the marginalization of art in schools and discuss ways to demonstrate the value of a strong arts education.

“We are getting mixed messages,” said Susan Sward, an art teacher at West Warwick High School who helped organize the conference. “On the one hand, we hear the arts are important, but on the other hand, whenever there are tight finances, the arts are looked at as something that is disposable.”

No Child Left Behind, the federal law that governs so much of public education, clearly states that the arts are a core subject. Former U.S. Education Secretary Ron Paige warned school superintendents in a 2004 letter against cutting such programs, saying art and music “have a significant role” in students’ education.

Rhode Island’s school regulations echo that view, requiring that students “demonstrate proficiency in the arts” before graduating high school.

But across the state, art teachers fear their subject — and the creativity and innovation art can promote — are increasingly threatened, educators said yesterday. Cuts similar to those in Warwick are happening in virtually every district, they said. A requirement that all high school students take one-half credit in art or music was recently dropped when the state adopted new secondary school regulations, a move that worried art teachers.

“I’ve been an art teacher in Portsmouth for seven years, and every year we’ve cut,” said Mel Johnson. “First to go was the art supervisor. We lost one art teacher at the high school level — we’re down to three. Then middle school went from two to one, and that person goes to an elementary school for part of the day.”

Cranston let go six art teachers recently because of budget cuts, said Sward. “I know students in the arts education program at Rhode Island College, and they are being told there may not be jobs for them when they graduate,” Sward said. “We understand the economy is tight. Yet we consider arts essential to a full education.”

In a panel discussion that was part of the conference, business leaders agreed, and said art, design, innovation and a creative mind are essential to succeed in college and work.

Paul Sproll, of the Rhode Island School of Design, moderated the discussion — which included Merrill Sherman, president of BankRI; Aidan Petrie, a RISD graduate and cofounder and creative director of Item Group, a consulting firm, and Ximedica, a medical device company; Tom Monahan, founder and president of Before & After, a consultant that helps companies “think creatively”; and Peter McWalters, the state’s education commissioner.

All of the panelists said schools need to do more to cultivate the imaginative thinking that is so desirable to companies. McWalters said he’d like to see creativity and innovation encouraged in all subjects — not just art and music.

Sherman, a lawyer and banker, listed four reasons she thinks art and music are important: “It’s a way to keep students engaged in school, especially at the high school level. Art helps people express themselves in constructive and creative ways. Art is culture. And art develops and evidences nonlinear thinking.”

Business leaders want to see “ideas out of left field,” she said.

jjordan@projo.com