A lively discussion took place at the Carbon Career & Technical Institute Joint Operating Committee meeting this month about a number of items regarding the school’s budget.

Items on the agenda triggered concerns by Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver.

The items, including an authorization and approval to transfer $1,950,000 from the CCTI General Fund-Budgetary Reserve/Fund Balance to the CCTI Capital Projects Fund; and an authorization and approval to authorize the transfer of funds in the amount of $1,950,000 from the CCTI General Fund to the CCTI Capital Projects Fund for future CCTI building and equipment needs had been tabled at the February meeting.

Cleaver questioned whether such a budgetary transfer was possible.

Administrative Director David Reinbold addressed these concerns.

Reinbold assured the committee that “our auditors and financial advisers were all aware of those motions beforehand and had no problem with them.”

Before including these items on the agenda, Reinbold and CCTI business administrator/treasurer Jeffry Deutsch presented the idea to the CCTI auditor and financial adviser.

Both agencies responded that “it’s clean and appropriate and follows all of the guidance prescribed by Governmental Accounting Standards Board and PDE for fund transfers. … Lastly, of note — in my nine years working on the audit, our firm has never had any discrepancy or disagreement with accounting policies with the institute and we don’t disagree with this motion either.”

A roll-call vote was taken and the motions passed by majority, with Lehighton and Weatherly voting no. Both Lehighton and Weatherly school districts have yet to approve the proposed CCTI budget.

Career pathways

Cleaver announced that the Lehighton school district is exploring the idea of creating career pathways for students who may wish to explore a career but are not ready to commit to attend CCTI.

Wayne Gryzik, the JOC committee member representing Panther Valley, questioned whether this type of program would negatively impact enrollment at CCTI.

Cleaver said the programs they are exploring are “nowhere in depth” and would not lead to any certifications the way the CCTI programs do. Cleaver said such a program would provide students with experiences that would help them decide if a selected field was a good match for their interests and would help prevent students from paying for a year of tuition before deciding a career was not what they were seeking.