Elon Musk is deepening his footprint in Texas. Alongside relocating to Austin and reworking SpaceX’s Boca Chica improvement web site right into a metropolis, the billionaire has shifted a number of ventures, together with The Boring Firm, into Bastrop County, a rural area now dwelling to Musk-linked housing, retail and, most lately, a non-public faculty. Advert Astra, Musk’s faculty named after the Latin phrase that means “to the celebs,” is formally open with a Texas Well being and Human Companies (HHS) license. It sits on a 40-acre web site in Bastrop, roughly 30 miles from Austin and simply down the highway from “Hyperloop Plaza,” a Musk worker hub that includes a café, bodega and medical middle.
For now, Advert Astra faculty will solely settle for college students ages six to 9 and is licensed to accommodate as much as 21 college students. The college has employed a small educating employees and plans to develop into larger grade ranges, in line with Dori Kelley, a supervisor on the Bastrop Financial Growth Company. “They might like to go all the way in which as much as highschool,” she instructed Observer.
Any near-term growth will rely upon infrastructure. Advert Astra’s progress is at the moment constrained by wastewater capability, although Bastrop is extending an area wastewater line anticipated to be accomplished in about eight months.”They’ve 40 acres, so they’d like to accommodate as a lot as attainable,” mentioned Kelly.
Musk initially based Advert Astra over a decade in the past in Los Angeles instead faculty for his youngsters and people of SpaceX staff. Different colleges “weren’t doing the issues I believed needs to be completed,” Musk mentioned in 2015. Whereas the varsity later transitioned on-line in 2020, the brand new Bastrop location retains a powerful emphasis on STEM schooling and experiential studying.
The Texas model of Advert Astra can be overseen by Jared Birchall, Musk’s longtime wealth supervisor, who will function CEO, in line with paperwork obtained by the Texas Tribune. The college can even be led by Greg Marick, CEO of Xplor Schooling, a software program supplier for childcare facilities. Xplor beforehand helped launch a Montessori faculty on Lanai, Hawaii, the island principally owned by Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
Though Advert Astra shouldn’t be a Montessori faculty, its web site emphasizes the worth of Montessori-trained educators and describes a mission to “foster curiosity, creativity and important pondering within the subsequent era of downside solvers and builders.” The college incorporates Montessori-aligned strategies corresponding to uninterrupted work durations and multi-age school rooms.
Curriculum paperwork present a give attention to experiential studying, math, science and scholar independence. “It’s a really hands-on studying type with a STEM spin to it,” mentioned Kelley, who added that A.I. and robotics can be central themes.
For now, tuition is sponsored, although future charges will align with native personal colleges providing prolonged day applications. Annual tuition at related colleges within the space can attain as much as $20,000.
As corporations like The Boring Firm deliver extra staff into Bastrop, Advert Astra is positioned to fulfill rising instructional wants. “On some days it’s roughly 2,000 individuals who come to Hyperloop Plaza, and Advert Astra is receiving among the wants relating to childcare,” mentioned Kelley.
Although nonetheless primarily utilized by households tied to Musk’s ventures, Kelley hopes the varsity will ultimately develop into a broader group useful resource. “Bastrop is all the time on the lookout for new colleges, and it may be different colleges corresponding to a Montessori A.I. and robotics faculty,” she mentioned. “We embrace any sort of schooling right here within the county as a result of we desperately want it.”
