There were four general guiding principles when planning started in earnest a decade ago to transform the aging Manteca High and East Union High campuses.

*Enhance student safety and modernize facilities.

*Build facilities to support academic goals.

*Create a campus students and the community would take pride in.

*Maximize the expenditures of tax dollars.

That last — a directive of the Manteca Unified School District board — has been at the forefront of the district wide remodel effort using proceeds of the $159 million Measure G passed in 2014 and the $260 million Measure A passed in 2020 that has been wedded with growth fees and community facilities district bonding.

Maximizing the $419 million in bonds has been a combination of prioritizing campus makeover projects in an order to secure the most state matching funds as well as looking at innovative changes as projects advanced.

But none may have saved as much money as timing.

Thanks to voter approval of the Measure A bond measure in 2014, Manteca was able to go out for bid four years ago for a new main gym at Manteca High that ended up costing under $10 million.

Demolition of the old swimming pool, the old small gym and the relocation of the softball field occurred in 2019.

Three years ago, the big gym and replacement swimming pool were completed.

Patterson Unified, where voters in 2022 approved a $74 million bond measure, are building a gym complex roughly the same size as Manteca’s but are ending up spending nearly twice the amount.

Next month, the campus will be using 22 classrooms in a new two-story building along Mikesell Street along with a new career technical education building.

 Work is now underway to prep for construction of a 2-story building with 32 classrooms along Sherman Avenue, complete with learning stairs, a student quad with stage, and a media center.

The faculty parking lot on Sherman at Yosemite Avenue will be expanded at the same time.

The Sherman Avenue complex — similar to the two-story classroom structure that will be used for the first time next month at East Union High — is scheduled to be completed in 2028.

It will dovetail into the design of the main gym and swimming pool with its sweeping and dramatic canopy that some have described as giving the latest redo of the 105 year-old campus “a college feel.”

The next phase will see the administration building remodeled and the current library turned into an art complex to take advantage of its proximity to the school theater.

Other phases include expanding the cafeteria and adding parking near the football field along Mikesell Street.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com