Panasonic plant helping grow De Soto schools

DE SOTO, Kan. — Panasonic’s planned battery plant in De Soto, KS is envisioned to bring advancement to the now-expanding district, though sooner or later serving to to shell out for some of the advancement after tax abatement incentives expire.

“Having the Panasonic plant there doesn’t actually cause us to have to have additional colleges, it’s where by the persons close up,” stated De Soto Unified University District Superintendent Dr. Frank Harwood.

“From an enrollment point of view, we’re actually waiting around on the up coming element of this growth, which is the place is the housing going to produce.”

Dr. Harwood’s district previously handles significantly of Shawnee, Lenexa and Olathe. Lots of new properties are remaining crafted there as Johnson County grows, making up a vast majority of the district inhabitants. It’s why the district now set apart $5 million of a 2018 bond to shell out for land aquisition for foreseeable future expansions.

“We’ve presently procured 150 acres in the southern portion of the group and we’re also looking at some other places for some other universities shifting ahead,” stated Dr. Harwood.

That land can afterwards be traded or bought if there is a want for school sources in unique pieces of the local community.

The plant’s taxes won’t be likely to the faculty district for yrs as element of a tax abatement incentive. That is the expense of attracting a $4 billion non-public financial investment project to the area, which is the largest in condition record.

Alternatively, the limited-time period advantage, the moment the plant is finished in the upcoming number of years, will be having a substantial-tech manufactoring procedure inside district boundaries.

“You think about it as an state-of-the-art manufactoring plant but there is a ton more to it than just the manufacotring aspect,” explained Dr. Harwood. “There are also alternatives for our learners in company, finance and HR.”

He states the district is currently speaking with Panasonic about how students interested in a wide variety of professions can interact with the corporation when they’re in large school to support notify what form of career path they want to choose.

“The district by itself has generally been known to be a pretty great university district,” reported De Soto mother or father Alisha Caton.

“But to be acknowledged for a thing which is beneficial and to expand down the street, it appears to be like a extremely protected area for the youngsters to go to faculty and to have a superior impression on the community.”