Manteca Unified was at 25,623 enrolled students as of Tuesday.

Not only is that the highest number on record, but it also means the district is on track to reach the previously projected enrollment of 25,871 for the current school year.

The only “surprises” were larger than anticipated enrollment in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and third grade.

The district has classroom capacity to accommodate growth without exceeding design capacity for the educational programming.

That said, there are schools being impacted significantly by growth while others aren’t.

In the past, the district has overflowed students at impacted grade levels to other campuses until such time as space opens up at their neighborhood school..

It is why the continued growth in southwest Manteca has made breaking ground on the TK-8 site at Tara Park near the corner of Woodward Avenue and Jason Street by 2028 is a high priority.

Manteca Unified is on track to do that and has money on hand from community facilities district bond sales to build a $53 million campus initially for 1,000 students.

The school district is also moving forward with design plans for a campus for 1,200 students in grades TK-8 at MUSD’s Tinnin Road site where a future high school may also be built.

If growth in southwest Manteca gets to the point it poses a severe impacts on schools south of the 120 Bypass, the district is preparing a strategy that may see the school at Tara Park open as a partial school while the rest of the campus is being built out.

Meanwhile Manteca High, in addition to the Measure A modernization project, has added additional classrooms to accommodate 2,200 students based on the educational programming.

The enrollment is currently at 1,800 students.

Manteca Unified ended the 2020-2021 school year with 21,901 students.

It reached 25,571 last school year.

And during the current school year, the district projects to increase to 25,871 students.

If that occurs, the district will have grown by roughly 15 percent in six years.

That contrasts sharpy with other school districts that have either steadily declined during the same period or remained stagnant when it comes to enrollment.

The district — if the projection holds — will have added 300 students last school year and 300 students this school year.

That compares to an average of 915 students annually during the previous four years.

The growth in Manteca and the non-River Islands portion of Lathrop that is served by MUSD is why the district is trying to move forward with building two new elementary schools south of the 120 Bypass and the Ethel Allen School in Lathrop.

Across the Bay Area — and much of California — kindergarten enrollment is smaller, high school graduating classes shrinking and even entire school campuses are being closed down.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com