According to Jeffry Deutsch, business manager for the Carbon Career and Technical Institute, no increase is being forecast for the 2024-2025 operating budget year for the five Carbon County school districts. That budget will be presented for approval at the December Joint Operating Committee meeting.

While the budget has not increased for the districts, it has been close to being “in the red.”

“We are getting close to a deficit (in the annual budget),” Deutsch said. “The last two years, we were right around the break-even mark. A lot of that is because we received some COVID money. If we had not received that, we would have had a deficit. For 2023-2024, we will probably be in a deficit, which will continue until we would increase our funding from the districts.”

The CCTI Treasurer’s report for September 2023 shows the General Fund has a balance of $6,007,416.35. Any deficits in the budget come out of the General Fund balance.

The Joint Operating Committee has not had an increase in its budget for at least 12 years. The five participating school districts in CCTI are Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Palmerton, Panther Valley and Weatherly.