There will be no share increase for member school districts in the $7,812,486 budget that Carbon Career & Technical Institute will send to Palmerton, Lehighton, Jim Thorpe, Weatherly and Panther Valley for the 2015-16 school year.

CCTI's joint operating committee unanimously approved sending out the proposed spending plan during its final meeting of the year on Thursday night.At least four of the five member districts must approve the budget for it to pass.According to CCTI officials, it is the second straight year for a zero percent increase to the districts after a 0.5 percent increase in 2013-14 and a 0.7 increase in 2012-13.Student achievementRecent achievements by students working on the yearbook and participating in Skills USA competitions were the main topic of conversation Thursday night.Yearbook students attended the National Scholastic Press Association conference in Washington, D.C., from Nov. 6-9."It was a great chance to meet industry professionals," said Kim Pimble, a CCTI student from the Panther Valley School District."We got to see what kind of jobs they have after graduating from graphic design programs like we are involved in now."The convention touched on topics such as photography, interview skills, writing and design techniques, and photojournalism."We had a chance to view different yearbooks from around the country and, although I love our yearbook, we saw some different style," Pimble said."There are things we took away that we can use in the future."Students were busy each day from around 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., taking in the sights when they were not in different sessions."One of my favorite sessions was how to become a better editor and talk to my peers more comfortably," said Amanda Turpin, junior editor of the CCTI yearbook."It helped me to come out of my shell and talk to other people and give students better feedback."SkillsUSA adviser Kevin Kuehner said students have been participating in district competitions over the past month and have already tallied 10 gold medals, with the potential for several more.Students competed in a variety of different challenges at Johnson College in Scranton, and Luzerne County Community College."The students got to work with newer technologies, and two of the competitions even took place at a Toyota dealership, which they closed down for two days," Kuehner said."We've sent a lot of younger students this year, and that is a plus because they'll have that experience for the next few years."Other actionCCTI's joint operating committee on Thursday accepted the resignation of Francine Garenty-Kluck, adult education site supervisorThe committee also approved:• Francine Garenty-Kluck to earn $23.50 per hour, for up to 12 hours, to transition the new adult education site supervisor.• A trip to the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia for 26 cosmetology students.• A trip to the Distributive Education Clubs of America state conference in Hershey for 38 marketing students.• The first reading of revised policies on programs and operations.