CALIFORNIA’S SCHOOLS: WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? : Rethinking the Educational Structure : Experiment: A middle school built from scratch combines administrative functions with classroom teaching.

Education experts and politicians talk endlessly about how to overhaul public schools to bolster resources for teachers and students, and how to lift bureaucratic rules that stymie creative uses of tight budgets.

Such ideas are being experimented with at a San Diego middle school that has found ways to dedicate virtually all its resources to classroom instruction.

O’Farrell Middle School has teachers who also discipline and counsel, a principal who shares responsibility with the faculty, and a program that mixes fast learners with handicapped pupils. As a result, the school, which serves grades six, seven and eight, has much smaller classes than the city’s traditional middle schools and a sense of community that others lack.

Created by a core of 11 teachers, librarians and clerical workers known as the “Dream Team,” O’Farrell opened in 1990 with the goal of minimizing the use of non-classroom professionals, maximizing parental involvement, and giving almost all students an advanced program in math, history and literature, regardless of their background and preparation.

To hire more teachers and reduce class size, the school eliminated two vice principals and three counseling jobs that the size of its enrollment would have permitted it to fill. It also took the extra money it receives as a magnet school--which means it offers a special curriculum to encourage racial and ethnic integration--and pooled it with other education funds.

To gain the services of a full-time psychologist, the school joined forces with the county Social Services Department. It also strongly embraces the concept of “mainstreaming,” combining special education and gifted students with other pupils whenever possible.

The result: O’Farrell has 60 teachers instead of 48, and classes have 25 to 28 students. A typical middle school in San Diego has 36 students per class, and many have more than 40.

The trade-off is that O’Farrell’s teachers have more duties than their colleagues elsewhere. At traditional schools, errant children are sent to counselors or the principal for punishment or guidance, but discipline here is handled in the classroom by a teacher.

The potential for teacher burnout is greater, and students and their families may miss the help of trained counselors. It also is unclear whether the overall approach is boosting learning.

Yet many faculty members say the added chores, far from being a burden, help them establish closer ties with their students, which pays dividends on the academic side.

“There is a strong sense of intimacy that I think is very useful,” math teacher Byron King said in an interview interrupted when he was called to help quell a ruckus in the boys’ gymnasium. “I take care of their schedules. I’m the one who helps them get their lives straightened out. If they have a problem, they are sent back to me.

“It gives you the sense that you have more power over what is going on with the kids.”

Other schools attempting to follow O’Farrell’s example may hit obstacles trying to pry counselors, vice principals and others loose from their established roles. O’Farrell had the advantage of assembling its staff from scratch.

But San Diego schools Supt. Thomas Payzant said pressure is mounting on schools across the state to get more from less. That means being prepared to abandon old ways of operating.

“People are going to have to be creative and flexible,” he said, “and not assume that change can only occur by adding something on, rather than taking something away to free up resources to do what’s new.”