Schools and communities that value and support the arts and arts education understand such things are not a luxury. The arts are essential.

Fortunately, it appears state officials and lawmakers understand that, too. This year, the Ohio Arts Council has been supported to the degree that it was able to approve a record $22.7 million in arts grants — 935 of them to Buckeye State artists and arts organizations. It is the largest single round of grants distributed to OAC funding applicants in the agency’s history.

“On behalf of the board, the Ohio Arts Council thanks Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, and members of the Ohio General Assembly for their steadfast support of the arts,” said Donna Collins, executive director of the OAC. “We are proud to invest such a significant amount of funding in Ohio communities and contribute to our state’s cultural vitality and importance.”

Grants went for operating support, project support, statewide arts service organizations, arts learning and artist programs.

Certainly, organizations across the state are grateful for significant support from the OAC. It will surely be combined with other funding sources to continue bolstering a vital building block for our students’ and our communities’ wellbeing.

In Belmont County, $37,800 in funding was granted to Bellaire High School for its TeachArts Ohio program. To the north, the Deersville Community Players in Harrison County received $5,614 for sustainability and the Steubenville Art Association in Jefferson County was awarded $3,320 for ArtSTART.

Lawmakers and other officials must step up to the challenge to make next year just as supportive of those efforts.

The grant awards “mark a significant step in the OAC’s ongoing commitment to directly fund arts programming in all 88 Ohio counties–something it has been able to do for the last nine fiscal years,” the agency said in a statement last month.

Such momentum must not be allowed to falter.