The State Board of Education last Tuesday approved the final phase of Cambridge's school desegregation plan--including a controversial minority staffing clause--enabling the city to begin looking for funds to help implement the plan.

Cambridge School Committee member Henrietta S. Attles said Sunday that the Cambridge Teachers Association asked the State not to consider the minority staffing clause, which may mandate the retention of some minority teachers above other, more senior, staff.

Instead, the Board congratulated the city for the minority staffing clause, she said.

Cambridge's plan, unlike Boston's, was developed voluntarily and includes provisions for keeping minority staff, Attles said. In those respects, she added, "Cambridge is leading the state."

Undecided

Since the state has approved Cambridge's final plan, the city is now eligible for funds reserved for school systems that have desegregated voluntarily, Dorothy S. Jones of the Cambridge Office of Desegregation said yesterday.

Cambridge is also eligible for a 75 per cent reimbursement by the state on money spent to renovate schools involved in the desegregation plan, as opposed to the normal 50 per cent reimbursement.