Finances are safe for the remainder of the school year for Palmerton Area School District.

Ryan Kish, the district's new business administrator, said the school district will receive $4.5 million in emergency funding from the state.On Dec. 29, Gov. Tom Wolf signed and vetoed part of a spending bill put forth by the legislature. Of the $30.3 billion allotted in the plan, Wolf approved $23.3 billion to assist schools, counties, social service nonprofits and partial prison funding with money that would have been given to them for the first half of the school year."We have no concerns with getting through the remainder of this school year," Superintendent Scot Engler said.With the emergency funding, as well as through the help of a $1.2 million federal grant the Lehigh Carbon Community College SHINE Afterschool Program received, the school district will open its first SHINE center for kindergarten and first graders at Parkside this year.There are seven centers throughout the county but is the first time the program has expanded on the elementary school level into Palmerton.Engler said he hopes to have the program in place for the students at S.S. Palmer Elementary School next year.The school board also approved the general operating budgets for the Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit for the fiscal year running from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017, as well as the operating budget for Lehigh Carbon Community College in the amount of $144.150 and the capital budget of $56,581.Several personnel items were discussed during the school board's closed executive session. These items are on the consent agenda and were approved during the public meeting.Among those items are the retirements of three employees at the end of the school year. These positions include Denise Strohl and Annette Fantasia, both first-grade teachers at Parkside Education Center; and Sally Krawchuk a building secretary.Tenure was approved for Randi Jo Freed, a science teacher at the high school. A salary adjustment in horizontal movement was approved for Katherine Gilmartin to reflect that she holds a master's degree.Also approved for this school year are the positions of Roberta Yeager as a mentor to Chris Kimmel; Monique Hofford, a mentor to Elizabeth Hilaire; and Miranda Allen, a secondary specialist and department co-chair.Kish was approved to fill the roles of Open Records officer and delegate to the Carbon County Tax Collection Committee.