Panther Valley school board members say they are happy to continue as a sponsoring school district of the Lehigh Carbon Community College, but they do not want to give the school a blank check for real estate acquisitions.

The board at its reorganization meeting Thursday night voted to accept the college's 2015-16 budget. The district's contribution has not changed.For at least a decade, Panther Valley has been one of nine sponsor-districts for the college. That means that it pays a percentage of the college's budget. In exchange, Panther Valley graduates receive 50 percent off their tuition.PV Superintendent Dennis Kergick said that the services that LCCC provides are a good buy for the district."With it not going up, and the service they provide to Carbon County students, specifically Panther Valley students, if the price isn't going up, I say we buy it," Kergick said.However the board was not so enthusiastic when asked to vote upon a request to give the college preapproval for real estate transactions. Members voted unanimously to reject the resolution for the second straight year.LCCC makes the same request of all nine of its sponsor-districts. The authorization makes it easier for the college to move on real estate transactions without having to wait for approval at nine separate school board meetings. Several other schools have already accepted the proposal."It was approved by a majority of LCCC schools last year, but we voted no on it. It came up last month, but it was tabled," board solicitor Robert Yurchak said.New board President Anthony DeMarco, who was elected at the start of Thursday's meeting, said that there are too many question marks for the district to accept the proposal."The problem is, it's kind of open ended," he said. "How much is this going to cost Panther Valley School District? We don't have solid anything - location, numbers, how it's going to affect our budget."The school board also held its annual reorganization meeting before Thursday's meeting, installing three new members.Renee DeMelfi, Joseph Faenza and Wayne Gryzik won seats in November's general election.The board voted to appoint DeMarco as president, replacing Jeff Markovich, who did not receive enough votes in the primary election to get on the ballot in November.Brian Dolena was appointed as vice president, replacing John Williams. Williams assumed the role of treasurer after DeMarco resigned to become president.DeMelfi was appointed to be the board secretary, taking the place of Michelle Markovich.