Galt school board OKs Liberty Ranch stadium, campus modernization

GALT — With proceeds from the voter-approved school bond, Galt Joint Union High School District will first install athletic fields and a stadium at Liberty Ranch High and modernize Galt High. Until the new sports facility is complete, both high school teams will continue to use Galt High’s stadium.

The decision is part of the district’s facilities master plan that requires state matching funds. It was finalized by the school board earlier this month, and last week, trustees approved selling $18 million worth of bonds to move forward with the initial plans.

Superintendent Elizabeth Kaufman has been vocal about thanking those who helped prioritize the Measure E funding projects.

“Thanks to all of the staff and community members who participated in the nearly two-year-long journey of designing these plans and supporting a challenging bond campaign that made these opportunities for our children a reality,” she said in an email.

Voters approved the $36 million bond measure last November. It needed at least 55 percent voter approval and received 62.63 percent.

Since then, district staff, members of the bond oversight committee and an outside agency have met to discuss facility priorities.

“With so many needs, their conversation is always about priorities, and there are rough decisions to make between what we need, what we want and what we can imagine,” Kaufman said.

“The bond and state funding don’t all arrive in one lump sum at one single time, so they are having to balance what they

believe the kids really want to see — new athletic fields — with what kids need now — classrooms with HVAC and solid roofs.”

The plans for Liberty Ranch and Galt high schools were originally presented for discussion at the April 3 community meeting and the April 4 board meeting, and are on the district’s website for review.

In sum, Liberty Ranch will use Measure E funding to complete its athletic fields.

A lighted stadium was in the original construction plans when the campus was built in the late-2000s, but it was removed due to funding. At the time, the district planned to use developer fees from yet-tobe-developed property surrounding the school to pay the stadium, but when the

economy took a downturn developers pulled out of the city and state, as a whole.

Galt High School plans to use not only Measure E proceeds, but state matching funds and developer fees to complete a multi-phase modernization. This will begin with the installation of home and visitor grandstands, improvements to HVAC and roofing to a number of classrooms, improvements to lighting, and other general modernization in a first phase, according to Kaufman.

The second phase will involve the building of a two-story building currently planned to house science, technology and engineering lab/work spaces, while the final phase will be the completion of the Galt athletic fields with a visitor bleacher and the planned installation of artificial turf and an all-weather track.