Manteca Unified is on the verge of building three new elementary schools.

The board when they meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. will consider amending existing architectural design contracts and approve a third contract to build three new transitional kindergarten through eighth grade campuses — two south of the 120 Bypass in Manteca and one in Lathrop.

Passage of the $10 billion Proposition 2 school bond on the statewide ballot on Tuesday 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.

The TK-8 elementary schools would be built:

*at the Tara site northwest of McKinley Avenue and Woodward Avenue in southwest Manteca.

*on the northeast portion of the Tinnin Road site in mid-south Manteca.

*at the Ethel Allen school site in Lathrop.

The district decision to build a TK-8 school on the Tinnin property doesn’t preclude it from building a fourth comprehensive high school within Manteca’s city limits at that location.

Conceptual layouts show a high school campus with 2-story classroom building and support facilities could still be built at the Tinnin Road location.

The fact the district already owns the three school sites, will help make the numbers work.

The last new elementary school to be built in San Joaquin County that opened last year cost $60 million.

But that also included buying the property needed.

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

The projected costs 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 proposal before the board Tuesday when they meet at the district office includes committing $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-of.

*play courts, apparatus pits, and landscape areas.

If trustees agree with the recommendation, it will be scrapping plans to build dedicated regional early education centers in south Manteca and Lathrop for transitional kindergarten and kindergarten classes.

Had the statewide bond failed, the district would have proceeded with the early education center

As such, the would have shifted transitional kindergarten and kindergarten students from Nile Garden, Veritas, and Woodward schools.

If that had happened, existing kindergarten space at those three schools would have been converted for classrooms for other grade levels.

That means the district now has to find ways to house transitional kindergarten class space for students in the three attendance areas. 

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com