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The Toyota USA Foundation announced on Monday that it will provide $6.5 million in grants to East Central ISD to boost science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.
Local and state elected officials joined representatives of Toyota and East Central administrators, teachers and students at a Monday morning news conference at the Toyota Texas Manufacturing plant on the South Side.
Susann Kazunas, president of Toyota Texas, said the San Antonio-based maker of Tundras and Sequoias needs a strong pipeline of students to be the workforce of tomorrow, and so do other employers in the U.S.
"Not just for Toyota, but for the two-million project jobs that will go unfilled if we as a society don't find a way to get more young people involved in STEM careers," she added.
East Central Superintendent Rolando Toscano said the grant money will be spent on the Pecan Valley Stem Academy family resource center to help kids stay in school, and he added that the money will be spent on STEM teacher training.
"We're going to bring in a STEM specialist that will be employed by A&M-San Antonio but staffed at Pecan Valley, providing in-time training, development, coaching for teachers to execute at the highest level."
The grant money will be paid out over a five-year period.
Toyota also announced that progress continued on its $531 million rear axle plant on the South Side, which the company hopes will employ more than 400 workers. It opens in 2026.
Kazunas said it will build rear axles for the Tundras and Sequoias produced in San Antonio and for the Tacomas assembled in Mexico.
