Plano ISD CTE Center set for October opening

Plano ISD’s Career and Technical Education Center is set to open soon, bringing new and expanded programs to students.

The overview

The center was initially approved as part of PISD’s 2022 bond program, and started construction in November 2024. Voters approved more than $76.7 million to fund the center’s construction in 2022.

The 150,000-square-foot CTE Center is “right on schedule” to open in late October, Principal Jean Laswell said.

The center will house 19 programs, broken up into the following nine pathways:

• architecture and construction

• arts, AV technology and communications

• business, marketing and finance

• hospitality and tourism

• health science

• human services

• information technology

• manufacturing

• transportation, distribution and logistics

A closer look

While Plano ISD’s enrollment has decreased in every school year since 2010-11, the district’s CTE programs have seen growth.

In the 2019 school year, the district’s CTE enrollment was around 23,031, with 1,400 industry-based certifications awarded. Last school year, the district’s CTE enrollment was around 27,184 students and nearly 4,100 industry-based certifications were awarded.

In that same time period, PISD’s total enrollment dropped by almost 9,000 students.

Laswell said that the district has started introducing CTE programs earlier, so students in elementary and middle schools can start learning about career pathways available to them.

“I think this CTE Center is kind of the culmination of a lot of work that got the department to this point,” she said.

Laswell added that the CTE Center was built with the future in mind.

The design of the building accounts for future expansion and adaptability as equipment needs to be updated and even as full programs are phased in and out as workforce needs change.

“It was all about how we can make those spaces as fluid as possible,” she said.

Zooming out

PISD officials worked with community partners to identify “high demand and high wage” career paths to teach in the CTE Center, Laswell said.

“We met with a lot of industry partners and the community and really developed some ideas about what the needs were,” she said.

One such program is radiology, which will be offered at the center. Superintendent Theresa Williams said the program was considered when discussing workforce needs with Collin College and local health care partners.

PISD is partnering with Galveston College to offer the radiology program, and it will be the first ISD in Dallas-Fort Worth to carry it.

Credit Union of Texas is also partnering with PISD to open a student-run Smart Branch bank.

Stay tuned

Sections of the CTE Center will be open to the public in the coming months, with services offered by students.

“This is a building that is going to provide opportunities for our kids, but also services for our community,” PISD CTE Director Karen Buechman said.