Elon Musk to open a private school in Texas town where SpaceX, Tesla have offices
AUSTIN, Texas − Multibillionaire and Donald Trump confidant Elon Musk got the green light last week to open a Montessori-style private preschool, according to records obtained by Fortune magazine through the Freedom of Information Act.
With the permit, Musk’s school, Ad Astra, can begin teaching students 3 to 9 years old, focusing on a STEM-based curriculum. Ad Astra is the first in a series of schools Musk hopes to open, including several K-12 schools and a university in Texas.
The Ad Astra website posted in August that it was accepting applications for the 2024-25 school year with the intention to open this fall.
Trump appointed Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, to head a nongovernmental Department of Government Efficiency alongside businessman Vivek Ramaswamy for the incoming Trump administration. But he's also prepping for the needs of his employees in Texas.
Bastrop, about 30 miles outside Austin, has become home to several of Musk’s companies since he decided to leave California. Musk’s SpaceX, Tesla, Boring Co. and Neuralink have facilities in Bastrop.
Musk has also signaled his intentions to relocate X, formerly known as Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion in 2022, to the town of 10,000 people.
According to Fortune, Ad Astra passed inspection earlier this month and is not considered a licensed childcare program by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The school can now enroll about two dozen children but will start with 16.
Ad Astra − Latin for "to the stars" −will be run by the CEO of Xplor Education, Greg Marick, Fortune reported. Xplor Education partners with companies to provide early childhood education to their employees. The Xplor Education website currently lists job openings for assistant teachers in Bastrop.
According to information from the school's website, its mission is to foster curiosity, creativity and critical thinking. The school’s Montessori-style approach means the curriculum will likely focus on hands-on and project-based learning.
Musk previously opened a school designed for his own children and those of SpaceX employees in 2014. The school spun into a remote-only independent school in 2020 after Musk’s children graduated.
It is unclear whether the youngest of Musk’s children will attend the school. Musk recently bought a compound in Austin to house his children along with three of their mothers.
The Musk Foundation put aside about $100 million through another non-profit called the X Foundation to build the primary and secondary schools with an eye to opening a university, according to the foundation's non-profit filings.