The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 teachers union does not believe the district’s financial situation is as severe as the $3.5 million deficit the administration and school board have indicated, the union’s president said at a Tuesday night board meeting.

The teachers union suggests that a $2 million reduction by attrition – decreasing teaching staff by leaving open positions vacant – over the next two years will be enough to get the district out of debt, said John Lalley, president of the district educators council. After their initial assessment showed no serious financial trouble, the union reexamined the budget in the last few weeks with the help of Illinois Education Association, a statewide teachers organization.

“All school districts create their budget projections based on assumptions (of revenues),” Lalley said. “This process leaves room for reasonable people to have legitimate differences and disagreements about the interpretation of the district’s financial state.”

An average of 60 to 80 teachers leave the district annually, according to school board member Mary Rita Luecke.

School board member Greg Klaiber, chairman of the board’s finance committee, said the teachers union has a different take on strategies to solve the budget problems than the school board and administration. The union is advocates attrition alone to solve budget problems, while the administration and board are considering it as part of a plan that includes other cuts.

“Attrition is a viable possibility to fix a lot, but not all, of our problems,” Luecke said.

Klaiber said attrition cannot be depended upon to make up for the entire deficit because all models are contingent upon past averages of retirement and resignation.

“If those numbers don’t come to fruition, we’re going to have some difficulty,” he said. “I hate to sound as though we’re pushing people out the door. The fact of the matter is that it would be a good cost-saving measure.”

The teachers union believes attrition would solve budget problems without effecting other programs, Lalley said. The board is considering cutbacks in music, drama and library funding.

Attrition would result in an increase in class sizes at some of the D65 schools. Although the board and teachers union agree that small classes are preferable for both students and teachers alike, the larger classes still would meet state guidelines, according to Luecke. Class dynamics and environment may change, but this is preferable to the cuts that have been proposed, Lalley said.

The number of teachers hired by D65 has risen in past years in an attempt to decrease class sizes and improve education, Luecke said. Attrition would scale back staff to earlier numbers, and increase class sizes only slightly, she said.