Schools Pass Two Budgets In Effort to Avoid Lay-Offs, Program Cuts in Fiscall986

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).

She added that the CTA is currently meeting with Peterkin to find ways of saving jobs, such as eliminating sabbaticals and using the freed finds of encourage early retirement.

Although five tenured positions could be lost, "It is my conviction that once we meet to discuss job saving techniques, we will eliminate that figure," Noonan-Forster said.

"We are actively looking for ways to reduce nontenured notices as mueli as we can," she added, saying that at most 10 nontenured people would be forced to leave.

Program Cutbacks

Budget cuts did force reductions in alternative programs at the high school, though they did not completely destroy any program, said Peterkin.

For example, the pilot school at Cambridge Ringe and Latin High Schoo, which puts 200 students in closer contact with teachers and counselors, lost a guidanmce counselor, said Koocher.

The pilot school currently has a student-to-guidance counselor ratio of 90 to one, compared to 200 to one for the rest of the system, he added.

The budget will also require some multigrading--combining two grades in one class--at the elementary level, but to a "much lesser extent" than anticipated, said Peterkin.

He added that no child will be forced to enter a multigraded classroom. But Koocher diagreed, saying that there might be a few instances where students would have no choice.

The budget now goes on to the City Council, which will almost certainly approve it, according to school officials.