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In 10 years, Gilroy's public school landscape will include a second, state of the art high school and a ninth elementary school. Additional projects scheduled for the next decade include a new wing of classrooms at Las Animas Elementary School, an educational center at Mount Madonna Continuation High School servicing students, adults, pre-schoolers and infants, and a facelift of Glen View Elementary School. The projects will be funded largely by Measure P, the $150 million school tax Gilroy voters authorized in November.

Measure P will provide Mount Madonna with $10 million and Glen View will benefit from $6 million plus matching state funds to modernize two wings of classrooms, the office and the parking lots. The school currently houses 15 portables, which ties with Rod Kelley for the most in the district, according to a presentation by Roger Cornia, Gilroy Unified School District enrollment coordinator. Measure P will provide Las Animas Elementary with $3 million for a new wing of classrooms and four other elementary schools -- Antonio del Buono, Rucker, Rod Kelley and Luigi Aprea -- with $100,000 each to modernize facilities. Those schools will receive additional Measure P funds after the planning process is complete, said Enrique Palacios, deputy superintendent of business services.

In total, more than $173 million will be plowed back into local public school facilities in the next 10 years, with $121 million coming from Measure P. The difference will come from state dollars and other local funds. The money comes just in time to overhaul some of Gilroy's oldest schools and erect new ones to accommodate the district's burgeoning student population.

With an unexpected 4 percent growth rate at the elementary school level -- the district's demographer predicted only a 2 percent growth rate this year -- a new elementary school, or an alternative solution, is high on the board's list of priorities. At a recent study session, trustees reviewed the district's 10-year facilities plan and discussed the future of Gilroy's elementary school students.