Jim Thorpe Area School Board on Monday night approved its final budget without raising taxes.

The budget passed by a 7-2 vote with board member William Allison and board President John Patenio casting the negativevotes.The budget retains the current tax rate of 45.52 mills.The agenda for the meeting called for a 1.86-mill increase, which would have put taxes at 47.38 mills.However, a motion was made that the budget be passed without a tax increase.The budget shows anticipated revenues of $37,208,220 and expenditures of $38,459,422, leaving a deficit of $1,251,193.Most of the revenues come from local sources ($31,778,229) with $5.1 million coming from the state and $295,000 coming from the federal government.Dr. Barbara A. Conway, superintendent of schools, said she plans to attend a 17th District legislative candidate forum at 7 p.m. today at the Lehighton American Legion Post during which candidates for state representative will be present. She said she plans to impress upon the candidates the need for more state funding for local districts.Conway said Pennsylvania presently ranks 47th of the 50 states with the amount they fund school districts.Another board member, Gerald F. Strubinger, said whoever is elected the new governor will have to face a $50 billion deficit in the state's educational retirement system."We need to tell the next governor, whoever that may be, let's get that resolved," he said. "We need some help from the state."