In a legal notice published last week, the St Joseph School District announced it will be accepting bids on eBay for the Thomas Kinkade painting “City by the Bay.” The district’s Chief Financial Officer Beau Musser says there are a few reasons for the sale.

“First and foremost the district is looking at assets district-wide that we no longer have a use for, and we’re looking at disposing of those,” Musser said in an interview.

“Obviously, the painting was noted in state audit report, and is really no use for educational purposes, and so we just thought we might be able to get our money back by putting it out to the public for sale.”

Musser says the painting could very well prove to be a good investment.

“I have a friend in town, a local lawyer, who is the one who originally approached me, and he said we’re going to get a lot more than what we paid for it. His estimate was $5,000, so that’d be fantastic.”

Musser says he’s been approached by several people who are interested in buying the piece.

“First off, it’s obviously a decent little painting for a Kinkade with a nice frame, but, it’s for better or worse, a part of St Joe history, with everything that’s surrounded the turmoil with the St Joe School District.”

Find out more about the painting and the auction here.