FARRELL, WHEATLAND — Employees of Farrell Area School District begin the business of education today as teachers come to school for their first in-service day.

The business will cost $15,585,811 for 2012-13. That’s $634,930 more than the $14,950,881 the district will take in this school year.

Those numbers motivated board member Michael Thomas to oppose measures the rest of the school board approved Tuesday that reinstated six teachers who were furloughed in June when the board initially approved its 2012-13 budget.

That budget didn’t include the wage freeze for teachers that the Farrell Teachers Association approved Monday – as long as the board rescinded the furloughs.

School board members spent an hour behind closed doors mulling the offer, which Thomas said doesn’t make good business sense.

“Ultimately, something’s got to be cut,” he said.

By accepting the teachers’ offer, the board put itself into a situation where there’s only about $100,000 in its unreserved fund balance to cover emergencies, said Superintendent Lora Adams-King.

There’s also $1 million in the bank that’s reserved for specific needs, she said.

It means the board will start the 2013-14 budget process looking at a $1 million deficit before any numbers are crunched, Thomas said, adding that’s a situation school directors can’t afford.

Other board members disagreed. Approving the teachers’ offer were: President Terry Harrison, Vice President Lester Robinson, Ronald Weston, Charles Branca, James Guerino, Berry Holloway, Isaac Fields and Allen Harrison.

Forty-seven of the district’s 75 teachers attended the meeting and locked arms in solidarity as the board voted to recall the furloughed teachers.

Elementary school teachers Danielle Purich and Lisa Crytzer, high school guidance counselor Jordan Snyder, math teacher Steven Wilson, biology teacher Carla Garrett and industrial arts teacher Steven Sipos were recalled.

Board members also spared from furlough teachers Allison Anderson, Anthony Barlow, Ashley McGill and Matt Vannoy. Their positions were on the chopping block last Monday, but the board agreed to postpone a decision until the teachers’ union meeting this week.

The board did not call back elementary school nurse aides Lauren Graham and Billie Baker, who were laid off in June and added Tuesday to the “substitute nurses list.”

Daytime security officer Thomas Caputo, transition coach Justin Gregorich and social worker Lumumba E. “Les” Smith remained furloughed; the positions of guidance office/special education secretary Joanne Lloyd and secretarial aides Morris Hilton and Natasha Robinson were reduced from 12 months to 10 months; and grant writer Lynne Powell’s job was cut to part time.

In addition, there’s an across-the-board wage freeze this year for all employees, Adams-King said.

Tuesday’s decisions should end talk about dollars and cents and start conversations about education, she said.

On Friday, the district will host an “extravaganza” celebration to usher in the school year, which starts Monday.

It is the first of what may become an annual event and will begin at 6 p.m., she said.

It will “let parents know that Farrell is still in the business of educating students,” she said.

Tuesday’s board meeting ended with the spirit of a pep rally, and Harrison urged the teachers to show up in full force Friday. He said it is time for people to come together in the district.

“We are Farrell no matter how you cut it,” Harrison said. “My hope and my prayer would be we would unify ourselves and bridge the gap between us. Because it’s about the children.

“It wasn’t an easy decision for us tonight,” he said.

The board made the right decision, said Lorraine Guerino, president of the teachers union and wife of board member James Guerino.

“It’s time for us to pull together and move on,” she said. “It took us a long way to get here. We worked all summer to get to this point, and it was worth it.”