Headline: Elon Musk‘s New Montessori School in Texas Set to Open in 2025
Lead Paragraph: Tech billionaire Elon Musk is expanding his empire once again, with plans to open his first Montessori school in Texas. The school, named ‘Ad Astra’, will focus on technology and aims to open its doors in 2025.
Article:
Elon Musk, the visionary behind companies like SpaceX, Tesla, and The Boring Company, has set his sights on a new venture: education. Musk’s latest project, Ad Astra, is a Montessori school planned for the city of Bastrop, Texas, about 48 kilometers outside of Austin. According to Musk’s foundations’ documents obtained by Bloomberg, the Tesla CEO has pledged a staggering $100 million from the Musk Foundation and additional $137 million in cash and stock to fund this endeavor, totaling approximately 2.7 billion Norwegian kroner.
Ad Astra, Latin for "to the stars," suggests a lofty curriculum, and indeed, the school is slated to be technology-focused. As a Montessori school, it will follow the educational methods of Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori, emphasizing the individual interests and learning pace of each student. Initially, the school will cater to students aged three to nine, offering preschool and elementary education.
The school has recently received a conditional permit to open with an initial intake of 21 students. Ad Astra has partnered with Xplor Education, a company that helped develop a Montessori school on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which was bought by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison in 2012. Meanwhile, Musk’s own website claims that Ad Astra is currently accepting applications for children aged three to nine, suggesting that enrollment is already underway despite the conditional permit status.
Musk’s new school could prove beneficial to his own employees, given his companies’ growing presence in the Bastrop area. The Boring Company, SpaceX, and X have, or are in the process of establishing, operations in the region. In 2014, Musk opened a private school for his children and those of SpaceX employees in California, which also bore the name Ad Astra. Whether the new Texas school will also serve as an employee benefit remains to be seen.
Fees for Ad Astra remain uncertain. The school’s website currently states that subsidies will initially cover tuition, but later fees will be on par with other local private schools, including after-school care. Students’ days will run from 8 am to 3 pm, with an after-school program available until 6 pm.
Musk’s foray into education aligns with his proclivity for disruption and innovation. As the new school prepares to launch in 2025, the tech titan continues to push boundaries in various sectors, from transportation to space exploration. With Ad Astra, Musk aims to revolutionize education, one student at a time.
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