When Northgate High School's first class graduates in 2000, the students may be marching down the steps of a new, scaled-down stadium.

For months, many of Northgate's parents have questioned the Coweta County Board of Education about when Coweta's newest high school would have a stadium to call its own. During Tuesday night's meeting, the parents got an answer that still may not satisfy all the grumbling in the northern end of the county.

The board voted to spend $450,000 to build a stadium with aluminum bleachers, a pressbox and restrooms that should be able to accommodate football games and graduation ceremonies. A full-blown stadium with concrete bleachers is out of the question, school board officials said, because the system simply does not have the money.

"We've got two other stadiums to play football," said board member Harry Mullins.

The board's building and grounds committee had studied the stadium issue for the last few months and said the lower-cost stadium would provide for the needs of the Northgate High School community.

Committee members said the stadium would look similar to the visitors' stands at East Coweta High School's football stadium and said the school system would not be looking to expand the stadium in the near future.

The system plans to pay for the stadium with $300,000 in sales tax proceeds, $50,000 from the general fund and $100,000 spread over five years for the leasing of the lights at the facility.

After the board approved funding the stadium, Superintendent of Education Richard Brooks asked the build and grounds committee to start working on the specifications for the facility, so bids could be prepared.

School board member Bill Covington, who has been a driving force in making sure Northgate gets its fair share of funds, thanked the board for supporting the stadium, while Mullins said it just takes time to work out difficult issues.