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Elon Musk’s experimental private school in Texas is officially accepting applications.
Ad Astra — which means “to the stars” in Latin — is scheduled to launch in September ahead of the 2024 to 2025 school year, as long as the Texas Health and Human Services department approves its license, according to a statement on Wednesday. Currently, kids between the age of 3 and 9 may apply, although it eventually plans to become a K-12 school.
Focused on science, technology, engineering, and math, the school is a successor of sorts to a nonprofit school founded by Musk in 2014 after he pulled five of his children out of their public school, telling Business Insider at the time that he “didn’t see the regular schools doing the things I thought should be done.” He envisioned a school that removed grade levels and makes “all the children go through the same grade at the same time, like an assembly line.”
The original school was based in SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and catered to the aerospace company’s employees. In 2020, it shifted to online education and changed its name to Astra Nova.
The school is part of Musk’s nonprofit, the Foundation, which reportedly plans to eventually build a futuristic university in Texas and apply for accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The Foundation was seeded with $100 million from Musk and aimed to hire 11 faculty by the end of June, according to Bloomberg News.
Ad Astra is located in Bastrop, a rural community that has been transformed by Musk into somewhat of a hub for several of his companies. Both the Boring Company and SpaceX’s Starlink have facilities in Bastrop, while Musk’s nearby “Hyperloop Plaza” hosts the “Boring Bodega” and a salon. X, formerly known as Twitter, last week said it was hiring workers for a new support center that will also be based at Hyperloop Plaza.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with Musk’s plans, reported last year that Musk aims to build his own “Texas Utopia” incorporated in Bastrop County, which is some 35 miles away from Austin, where Tesla is headquartered and has a sprawling factory. Executives at Musk’s companies had wanted local employees to have an area to live in new homes with below-market rents. The company town, as such developments are known, could be named “Snailbrook” after The Boring Co’s mascot.
Musk’s involvement in the community has been met with both praise and irritation from residents. Since 2021, he has apparently brought in about 1,200 jobs to Baltrop County. On the other hand, SpaceX and Boring Co. have racked up at least 13 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality violations, including four major violations, Community Impact reported.