More than solar panels

Dr. Paul Drake is in his fifteenth month as Superintendent of Needville ISD, leading a district of more than 3,800 students and 580 staff through one of the fastest growth periods in its history. Originally from Livingston, Texas, he spoke about what drew him to Needville, the changes coming to the district, and how having solar in the community has enabled some of this change.

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I moved here fifteen months ago, and Needville pulled me in right away. This district has a great tradition and high standards. We are rooted in discipline, and that creates a learning environment where students genuinely succeed. That is what drew me here, and it is what I am committed to protecting as we grow.

When I arrived, people talked about growth. In the past eight months, you can see it. New neighborhoods going up in every direction, homes selling before they are finished. We are adding roughly a hundred students a year and planning for more. We are completing a new junior high that opens in 2026. We are building two new elementary schools that will open in 2027 and 2028, which takes us from one elementary school to three. We will have school zoning for the first time in Needville's history.

All of that requires resources, and it requires them to keep pace with the growth, not catch up to it.

That is where the relationship with Ørsted has mattered in ways people do not always see. It started through our ISD Police Chief, who connected us, and Ørsted stepped up with a vehicle donation to support the department. But the larger impact is the tax revenue the solar facility generates for the district.

We started seeing those benefits in 2020, and that money flows into our general fund. It has allowed us to keep up with pay raises and with inflation, which is how you retain the teachers and staff who know these kids and these families. You cannot put a number on that kind of continuity.

A growing community also needs reliable energy, and that is something people are starting to connect to solar in a real way. Battery storage paired with solar helped keep Texas from brownouts last summer. For a district about to have three schools full of children, that kind of stability is not abstract. It is the school day running the way it should.

When people think about what solar has brought to Needville, education is not the first thing that comes to mind. It should be. The solar industry is growing, and students who grow up alongside it are better prepared for what comes next. And when a company like Ørsted invests in a district like ours, it says something about who they are. They are not just here for the land. They are committed to this community for the long run, and that is exactly the kind of neighbor a growing district needs.