Elon Musk Secures Permit To Build School In Texas

Elon Musk has gotten the green light to open a pre-kindergarten school in Texas.

Musk’s Montessori school, Ad Astra, received its permit from the Texas childcare regulator last week.

Ad Astra, which means “to the stars,” is the beginning of Musk’s ambitions to open up several STEM-focused educational institutions in Texas.

The school will be located in Bastrop County, which is where X and SpaceX offices are located

Elon Musk has secured a permit to officially open his new Montessori school in Central Texas https://t.co/CXWdCl4o5q

— WFAA (@wfaa) November 25, 2024

Per Yahoo:

Elon Musk’s pre-kindergarten Montessori school in Texas can now open its doors.

The school, which has been in the works since last year, received its initial permit from the Texas childcare regulator on Thursday, according to the agency, paving the way for Elon Musk to start building out ambitious, STEM-focused education plans that could eventually entail multiple independent K–12 schools and even a college within the state.

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The Montessori school—dubbed “Ad Astra” (Latin for “to the stars”) in a nod to Musk’s plans for interplanetary travel—is located about 40 minutes from Austin, in Bastrop county, where several Musk companies have operations. The independent school in Bastrop may eventually enroll up to 54 students in upper and lower elementary grades, with a dedicated faculty and an overarching mission to provide a learning facility “dedicated to STEM education at the highest levels,” according to documents of a Musk-funded nonprofit reviewed by Fortune.

The first Ad Astra pupils in Bastrop will be between 3 and 6 years old and attend a pre-kindergarten school that focuses on exploration and on tasks like coloring, collage making, and studying maps and globes.

The school experienced some initial application snafus and inspection delays, but after passing an inspection earlier this month, Ad Astra obtained its initial state permit on Nov. 14 and is now considered a licensed childcare program, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which regulates childcare centers in the state. The Ad Astra preschool can enroll nearly two dozen children, according to the agency, though it appears to only be expecting 16 initially, according to application documents the school submitted to the state that were obtained by Fortune via a Freedom of Information Act request.

NEWS: Elon's Ad Astra (@adastra) Montessori school in Bastrop County has been given its permit to begin teaching. The school's curriculum is focused on STEM-based education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) for children between the ages of 3 and 9.

It is the second of… pic.twitter.com/HW8Tq2eoFL

— S.E. Robinson, Jr. (@SERobinsonJr) November 25, 2024

Per WFAA:

Elon Musk has secured a permit to officially open his new Montessori school in Bastrop County.

The permit was issued last week and officially allows the school, named Ad Astra, to begin teaching.

The school’s curriculum is focused on STEM-based education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) for children between the ages of 3 and 9. It is the first of many schools Musk hopes to open, which include multiple K-through-12 schools and a college.