The Manteca Unified School District board is expected to authorize the issuance of $80 million in community facilities district bonds to build two new schools.

The agenda for the 6 p.m. meeting at the district office also includes spending $17 million in Measure A bond proceeds for the second phase of the Nile Garden School modernization project.

The new schools are dubbed “early education centers” given they are designed to hold transitional kindergarten and kindergarten classes.

The state is mandating school districts offer universal transitional kindergarten classes.

Sacramento has also made it clear that within the next few years they plan to require kindergarten classes to  be full day affairs just like the primary grades.

The Lathrop CFD is paying for the early education center being built on the Ethel Allen campus.

The CFD that encompasses the City of Manteca south of the 120 Bypass is paying for the Tinnin Road early education center.

The Tinnin Road site could also eventually include a high school as well as a first through eighth grade campus.

The two early education centers will free up space at existing schools by making the kindergarten rooms available for other grade levels.

In doing so, neighborhood schools such as Veritas, Nile Garden, and Woodward will be able to accommodate growth south of thee 120 Bypass.

The Lathrop center will free up space at Ethel Allen and Mossdale schools.

The work at Nile Garden will primarily replace portable classrooms with permanent classrooms.

It may also include extending a driveway across an 8 acre parcel the district recently purchased to connect with Union  Road.

In doing so, it will address longstanding safety and traffic congestion issues along Nile Garden Road at the rural south Manteca campus.

The $260 million Measure A bond voters approved in November 2020 is restricted to upgrading facilities for educational programs and modernizing existing campuses.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com