It’s been over 20 years since Manteca Unified has built a new school within Manteca’s city limits despite  steady growth.

On Tuesday, the school board set in motion work that will end up seeing two new elementary schools built in Manteca sometime during the next three to four years.

One will be located near the alignment of McKinley Avenue and Woodward Avenue in southwest Manteca.

The other is on the west side of Tinnin Road, also south of the 120 Bypass but more centrally located.

Both are on land the district already owns.

The last new schools to open were Sierra High, Woodward School, and Veritas School.

An elementary school will also be built on the Ethel Allen site in Lathrop.

All three will be transitional kindergarten through eighth grade campuses.

Passage of the $10 billion Proposition 2 school bond on the statewide ballot Nov. 5 coupled with $80 million in bonds from community facilities districts in Manteca and Lathrop being sold later this month makes new school construction a financially viable option.

 Between CFD bond proceeds and state bond funding, Manteca Unified would have roughly $150 million available to build the three schools.

The projected cost to build the three schools is $125 million.

The additional CFD bond proceeds could be committed to one of four other new school facilities that preliminary designs are now being worked on to have ready for the board to decide which ones to advance for state funding.

The three most likely candidates are adding on classrooms for growth at Sierra High in the basin area along Winters Drive so the campus could accommodate 2,250 students, additional classrooms at Lincoln School, and additional classrooms at Sequoia School.

The fourth is for building a high school on the Tinnin Road site.

 The board Tuesday committed $13 million for full blown architectural plans, needed engineering, soil testing, and other related costs for queuing up state funding to build the three schools.

That will create construction plans for each of the three campuses with each including:

*development on new school site and coordination of utility connections.

*a 5,370-square-foot office/library complex.

*three buildings of 13,400 square feet to house 36 classrooms.

*a 9,600-square-foot multipurpose building.

*shade structure.

*1,200-square-foot custodial building.

*parking lot and student drop-off with solar energy array.

*separate bus drop-off.

*play courts, apparatus pits, and landscape areas.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com