Ground is expected to break within a year on what are essentially two additional elementary schools in the Manteca Unified School District.

It won’t be two new “free-standing” elementary campuses for 600 to 800 students that would cost in excess of $80 million to build . That’s based on the $40 million cost of the latest elementary campus being built in the Tracy Hills area in south Tracy.

The price tag would be significantly less based on the Manteca Unified School District’s decision Thursday to move forward with two early education centers to house transitional kindergarten (TK) and kindergarten students.

One early education center will be built south of the 120 Bypass in Manteca. The second will be in Lathrop.

 The two areas are the fastest growing in Manteca Unified in terms of new housing construction.

Land acquisition costs won’t be an issue.

The south Manteca site will be on a portion of the 60 acres the district already owns on Tinnin Road. The Lathrop location, while yet to be determined, will also be on existing district land.

The Manteca’s site, unlike possible sites in Lathrop, will require extension of infrastructure such as sewer and water lines.

The board awarded a $100,000  contract to TPH Architects to perform conceptual design work.

Planning services being provided include property assessment, educational specification development for early childhood education, program analysis, community outreach events, conceptual site plans, and meetings with staff and stakeholders to define and review project priorities.  

For all practical purposes, Manteca Unified is building a new school in both south Manteca and Lathrop.

South of the 120 Bypass, as an example, all kindergarten and TK classes will be taken from existing campuses at Veritas, Woodward, and Nile Garden and relocated to the early education center.

At the same time, additional space will be added for mandatory TK classes that the state is requiring by 2025.

That, in turn, will free up existing space at the three elementary schools.

The additional grade level the state is requiring districts to add — TK — and the shifting of students in kindergarten classes will be creating the equivalent of a new school in terms of capacity south of the 120 Bypass.

And it will be nimble enough that it won’t take five years to be completed from initial approval to the last finishing touches for occupancy as an elementary campus would starting from scratch.

But arguably even better in Manteca’s case south of the area south of the 120 Bypass, the district wouldn’t be placing a new school campus for 600 to 800 students in one location.

That will allow the district to avoid what happened when  Jousha Cowell School opened east of Highway 99 in the 1990s just as development patterns changed.

The school was unable to fill built classrooms with students for a number of years. That prompted the earlier shuttering of Yosemite School and shifting students from west of Highway 99 to the Cowell campus for a number of years.

New classroom capacity for first through h grade will open up across all three campuses.

And all three campuses happen to have multiple large new neighborhoods going forward.

It  may not ultimately eliminate the need to build an elementary school at the Rustic parcel south along south Airport Way.

But what it will do is reduce the odds on the near horizon of overcrowding or  busing at all three schools for their respective attendance areas.

Transitional kindergarten classroom configurations have design and space needs similar to kindergarten classrooms.

The state requirement for kindergarten classrooms is 1,350 square feet as opposed to 960 square feet for a standard classroom.

Kindergarten classrooms also must have fenced in playground areas with age-specific playground equipment as well as their own restrooms.

The state has indicated they will help pay for new TK classrooms but they will likely not allow the use of portables.

The state mandate that any school offering kindergarten must also provide transitional kindergarten for 4 year-olds goes into effect starting with the 2024-2025 academic year.

In the case of Manteca Unified, that could mean housing up to 2,000 new students once the 14th year of education is in place. The district currently has 25,000 students.

The need for more TK classrooms and the possible doubling of kindergarten space needs when full days become the norm for kindergarten prompted Manteca Unified to explore numerous options for the school board to consider.

Simply adding on to every existing campus would seem to be the obvious choice. That, however, would likely also be the most expensive course and may not be as effective of an option.

That is due to two things.

One, there is a scale of savings in larger projects as opposed to simply adding a couple of classrooms per site.

Second, a school campus dedicated to TK and kindergarten would be dedicated 100 percent to offering the best educational opportunities for those two grade levels.

The universal TK mandate from Sacramento is based on decades of research that shows establishing an early and strong foundation for learning is vital.

Studies have shown children provided “effective learning opportunities” before kindergarten have an advantage in school and in life over children who do not. That is especially true of children with adverse childhood experiences.

The universal TK program offers full-day learning opportunities in a play-based environment.

Children practice early literacy skills. The program is not designed to simply teach kindergarten curriculum a year earlier.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email  dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com