Elon Musk’s New $100M School Gets Permit

Elon Musk’s latest venture is not a rocket or an electric car, but Ad Astra, an educational institution for early childhood education.

Ad Astra has officially received its permit to operate in Bastrop County, Texas. Musk, who is co-leading President-elect Donald Trump’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), invested $100 million in the school via his X Foundation.

The school is set to open its doors for the 2024-25 academic year, offering a progressive, STEM-focused curriculum for children aged 3 to 9. It will be run by Greg Marick, CEO of Xplor Education, a firm that partners with U.S.-based companies to deliver Montessori-style programs. STEM refers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Ad Astra, Latin for “to the stars,” sums up Musk’s vision of cultivating the next generation of problem solvers and builders. According to the website, the school’s mission is “to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.” It says it emphasizes hands-on, project-based learning where students are encouraged to explore, experiment, and find solutions to real-world problems.

The curriculum is described as integrating STEM subjects with activities ranging from coloring and collage-making to studying maps and globes.

The school was funded by Musk’s X Foundation, a nonprofit organization supported by the Musk Foundation. According to documents reviewed by Fortune, nearly $100 million has been allocated to Ad Astra, marking it as the starting point for a broader educational initiative.

Plans include expanding into K-12 education and potentially establishing a university in Texas, contingent on the program’s success.

Newsweek has reached out to Ad Astra via web contact form for comment.

The enrollment application says it is open to children who turned 6 on or before September 1, 2024, and asks applicants to detail their child’s interests, personality, likes/dislikes, hobbies, sports, capabilities or talents, as well as describing their child’s social and emotional development.

This isn’t Musk’s first foray into education. In 2014, he founded the original Ad Astra School on the SpaceX campus in Hawthorne, California, after taking his children out of traditional private schools.

The institution was designed for his children and those of SpaceX employees, focusing on advanced topics like artificial intelligence and robotics, while omitting traditional subjects such as music and foreign languages.

After Musk’s children graduated, the school evolved into Astra Nova, an independent online institution for students aged 10 to 14. Astra Nova describes itself as an “experimental online school for kind, independent, and daring kids,” offering an unconventional curriculum that includes battling robots with flamethrowers.

Despite high tuition fees—reportedly up to $33,000 per year—Astra Nova operates as a nonprofit and has experienced financial losses. According to British tabloid The Sun, the school lost nearly $400,000 in one year, equating to about $2,000 per student, even while charging $2,100 per hour for classes.

Newsweek has not been able to independently verify the figures and has contacted Astra Nova via email for comment.

Musk is among several high-profile individuals venturing into education. Other celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg, Will Smith, Pitbull, and Oprah Winfrey have also launched educational projects, often aiming to offer innovative alternatives to traditional schooling. However, these ventures have had mixed success, with some facing criticism.

Zuckerberg, for example, donated $100 million to reform public schools in Newark, New Jersey, in 2010. The initiative faced criticism for its top-down approach, lack of community involvement, and failure to improve on student outcomes. A significant portion of the funds was allocated to consultants and administrative costs.