Development fees assessed on growth for school facilities paid for new classroom furniture at Lathrop High, Sierra High, Brock Elliott School, and Mossdale School during the fiscal year ending June 30.
The furniture purchases were among $423,579 worth of expenditures Manteca Unified School District made using development fees during the 2017-2017 school year. There was $32,000 spent on instructional furniture and additional lockers at Lathrop High. Another $11,000 was spent on instructional furniture at the other three campuses.
The bulk of the money — $379,421 — spent went for growth-related operational costs including $199,400 for salaries and benefits.
The district collected $5,048,698 in development fees during the 12-month period while earning $166,976 in interest to bring the ending balance to $23,724,061 as of June 30.
New residential projects are assessed $3.36 a square foot except for senior housing that is charged 29 cents per square foot. Industrial and commercial projects are charged 56 cents per square foot. That means a typical new single family home that averages 2,850 square feet is assessed a $9,576 charge for school facilities. The 404,000-square-foot 5.11 Tactical distribution center being built in northwest Manteca paid $218,160 in school growth fees.
The school board has earmarked $21 million of the growth fees to go toward expanding Manteca so it can accommodate 2,200 students to house student growth. Overall the board has set aside $40 million for Manteca high work including $15 million in Measure G bond proceeds to go exclusively for health, safety, and modernization as well as $4 million in one-time redevelopment agency receipts.
Under a long-range growth strategy adopted by the school board, district high schools eventually will be taken from a targeted ideal cap enrollment of 1,800 to 2,200 students. Manteca High will be the first campus to move toward the 2,200 student mark in terms of facilities. Manteca High has a current enrollment of 1,532 students with an existing campus designed to accommodate 1,703 students.
In the past growth fees have been used for small facility projects as well as to allow the district to buy property adjacent to the Manteca High campus along Moffat Boulevard.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com