Jared Birchall, Elon Musk's money manager and head of his family office, is listed as CEO. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co. has worked is mentioned as the official contact person.
But they are not connected to Musk's new tech venture, or the political operation that endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they are affiliated with the billionaire's new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained through a Texas Public Information Act request.
The world's richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you count his political action committee. In addition to rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focusing on education, from kindergarten to college. Some of his efforts were revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to build a tech-focused elementary and middle school in Austin, with eventual plans for a college. Another $137 million in cash and stock was allocated last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation.
Ad Astra is closer to completion. State records show that Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 students. Ad Astra's website states that it is “currently open to all children aged 3 to 9.” The school's account on
To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company with billionaire experience: Xplor Education, which developed the Hala Kahiki Montessori School in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison.
Ad Astra is located on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that is home to several of Musk's companies. During a visit on a recent weekday morning, a single Toyota Prius sat in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The main entrance to the school was closed by a gate and there were no children in sight on the premises.
But the information out there about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, albeit high-quality, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects,” as well as time for outdoor play and naps. An example of a snack calendar includes carrots and hummus. Although Birchall and Balajadia's names appear in the application, it is not clear that they will have any substantive role at the school once it is operational.
Musk, Birchall and Balajadia did not respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered.
Access to high-quality, affordable childcare is a major issue for working parents across the country, and is especially challenging in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in 'childcare deserts' where either there are no facilities or no space is available. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk the opportunity to showcase his vision for education and his support for hands-on learning and problem solving. which are a hallmark of its industrial companies. His public comments about learning often overlap with cultural issues popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has spoken out against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, posting in August that “many schools teach white boys to hate themselves.”
Musk's educational interests align with his new role as Trump's “first buddy.” The billionaire has taken on a role for himself that he – and now the new Trump administration – calls “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Although not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education has spent more than $1 billion promoting DEI in America's schools,” the account said on December 12.
Back in Texas, Bastrop quickly becomes a major focus of Musk. The Boring Co., its tunneling company, is located there in an unincorporated area. Across the street, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites in a 500,000-square-foot facility.
In the neighborhood, X is building a building for trust and security workers. Musk's employees, as well as the general public, can get snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store in Musk's Hyperloop Plaza that also includes a bar, candy store and hair salon.
Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It appears it was designed with the children of Musk's employees – if not Musk's own descendants – in mind. Musk has fathered at least twelve children, six of them in the past five years.
“Ad Astra's mission is to foster curiosity, creativity and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” the school's website states. A job posting on the Montessori Institute of North Texas website states: “As their parents support the breakthroughs that expand human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in ways that only authentic Montessori can provide.”
The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 hectares of land, according to the documents, which stated that a 400 square meter house would be converted for the kindergarten.
According to Bill Gormley, professor emeritus at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy who studies early childhood education, it is not unusual for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based HEB supermarket chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded Raise Your Hand Texas, which advocates for school funding, teacher workforce issues and teacher retention, and for full preschool funding.
“Musk is not the only entrepreneur who recognizes the value of early childhood education for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “Many politicians and businesspeople are getting excited about education in general – and kindergartens in particular – because they are salivating at the prospect of a better workforce.”
Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump's presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He has poured at least $274 million into political groups through 2024, including $238 million into America PAC, the political action committee he founded.
While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also received support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as Secretary of Education during Trump's first term, donated $250,000, federal documents show.
The Ministry of Education is already in the crosshairs of the new government. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also focused on transgender rights.
“Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racist, sexual and political material, which is what we are doing now, our schools must completely refocus on preparing our children for success in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform.
Musk has three children with musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved with Neuralink, his brain-machine interface company. They are all under five years old. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graph showing the growth in the number of administrators in U.S. public schools since 2000.
https://t.co/RzKaMTdeGM— Elon Musk December 5, 2024
In 2014, Musk opened a private school – also called Ad Astra – for his five older children and the children of SpaceX employees in Southern California. In 2020, the Covid pandemic was ongoing and SpaceX was building out operations in Texas.
In South Texas' Rio Grande Valley, SpaceX's Starbase facility is home to the company's massive Starship rocket, designed to take humans to the moon and Mars. SpaceX wants to integrate Starbase as a city, and there is already a childcare center “Kenmont School at Starbase”. In addition, another Ad Astra daycare, owned by SpaceX, appears to be under construction, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people are going into the financial and legal industries.”
“I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians, plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That is much more important than having incremental political science majors.”
Ad Astra's website says the cost of tuition will be subsidized initially, but in coming years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include a comprehensive day program.”
“I think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach children skills that they will find useful later in life, and to keep any form of social propaganda out of the classroom.”
With help from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson.
This article was generated from an automated feed from a news agency without any changes to the text.
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