Thanks to nearly $600,000 in additional funding, the Cambridge School Committee passed a 1986 budget last week which avoided the heavy cuts in teaching positions and special programs that officials had predicted in January.

An unexpected $200,000 $300,000 desegregation grant from the state will allow several programs to continue infact, said Mayor Leonard J. Russell, who serves as chairman of the school committee.

Another $300,000 is expected to come if the federal government phases out revenue sahring--an entitlement program which sends funds to cities and counties--over a few years, rather than eliminating it all at once, said City Manager Robert W. Healy.

Althoguh this money is not guaranteed, "all indications are that [the schools] will have $300,000 from revenue sharing," Russell said.

Double Jeopardy

At last Wednesday's meeting, the committee approved two budgets, in case the anticipated funding falls through.

The body passed both a $49 million dollar budget and a supplemental $300,000 budget, which will be used if the city gets the revenue sharing money.

Prior to the funding increase, school officials, had said the proposed budget would require up to 50 teacher lay-offs, deep cuts in special programs at the high school, and combining grades at the elementary level to eliminate a $1.9 million shortfall.

Job Savings

With the revenue sharing funds, only 20-30 positions will be cut next year, said Oliver S. Brown, assistant superintendent for planning and management.

Moreover, teacher attrition through leaves of absence and retirement "will significantly reduce the problem of layoffs," said Superintendent Robert S. Peterkin. Both he and Brown said perhaps fewer than five tenured teachers would lose their jobs.

When nontenured teachers, who are not permanent employees of the city, are included in the count, as many as 20 people could be fired, said committee member Glenn S. Koocher '71.

If the additional $300,000 does not come through, Brown said another 10 or 11 teaching positions would be cut, resulting in lay-offs-of tenured employees.

Trusting Teachers

But, according to teachers union representatives, teachers are not panicking about losing their jobs. There is a "perception that people are working to eliminate lay-offs," said Susan Noonan-Forster, president of the Cambridge Teachers Association (CTA).