Online Learning and Schools in SpaceX’s Backyard: Meet Elon Musk the Education Funder

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Americans have a contentious relationship with our billionaires. Jeff Bezos is under constant fire because of labor practices at Amazon, and Mark Zuckerberg is routinely pounded for his waffling responses to hate speech on Facebook. Bill Gates’s personal life has come under scrutiny since he and his wife announced their divorce, while conspiracy theorists on the right accuse the Microsoft founder of inserting microchips in unsuspecting patients. 

But Elon Musk may be the billionaire people most love to hate, at least for now. Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg earned billions during the pandemic, according to a recent calculation by the Institute for Policy Studies, but the founder of Tesla and SpaceX was the only one of the three to make the institute’s list of 10 Biggest “Pandemic Profiteers,” adding $137.5 billion to his already breathtaking fortune. From dissing a cave diver who helped rescue stranded boys in Thailand, to rocking the cryptocurrency market more recently, Musk’s high profile and prolific tweeting earn him more attention (and so perhaps more resentment) than many of his fellow billionaires—not to mention that Musk has been jockeying with Bezos for the title of wealthiest person on the planet.

Can philanthropy help burnish Musk’s image and earn him a little more love? Hard to say, but there is no question that the billionaire has recently begun to do more giving, even reaching out on Twitter for ideas. In a close-up look at Musk’s giving to date, IP reported that Musk has provided large donations to the Sierra Club, the World Wildlife Fund and the ACLU, among other nonprofits; he also supports efforts to mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence. This past February, Musk provided $100 million for a carbon-capture technology competition, as IP also reported. 

Education is another area where Musk has recently stepped up his funding, and, as in his other philanthropic interest areas, he’s going about it in a very Elon Musk way. If he goes on to become a major force in education funding, Musk’s approach promises to be quite unlike the strategy-driven grantmaking of, say, Gates or Walton. 

It’s hard to know just how much education-related giving we can expect from Musk, but we have some indications that it’s an area of major interest. The Musk Foundation website is notoriously spare, but it does list “Science and engineering education” as one of its funding areas; in January, the foundation made a $5 million donation to Khan Academy, the online education platform—an understandable move, considering his interest in tech-driven disruption. Then, last month, Musk announced that he was donating $20 million to schools in Cameron County, the South Texas region where the SpaceX launch site is located—a move that no one, including local school administrators, saw coming until they saw his tweet.  

Starbase and beyond

SpaceX calls its launch site in South Texas “Starbase,” and students and staff at nearby Port Isabel schools often watch Musk’s test rockets shoot across the sky. 

“We can see the rockets that go up every single time,” Port Isabel Independent School District Superintendent Theresa Capistran told EdWeek Market Brief. Point Isabel is one of the South Texas districts that will receive a portion of Musk’s $20 million donation. The funds are apportioned based on the number of students and the percentage of low income students in a district. As a small district, Point Isabel will receive $112,000. The Brownsville Independent School District, the largest in the county, received over $2.4 million and Idea Public Schools, a charter network in Cameron County, will get $459,000. 

Capistran told EdWeek that Musk Foundation staff provided some advice for how to spend the money, but left the decision up to the district. To date, most of the Cameron County school districts slated to receive the funds are planning to use the money for STEM-related programming. Capistran’s district will purchase new engineering, welding, construction and cybersecurity materials, for example. The Brownsville district plans to expand its STEM-related career and technical education programs. 

Futuristic workforce 

Elon Musk makes no secret of his need for skilled workers to power SpaceX now and into the future. He tweeted in March: “Please consider moving to Starbase or greater Brownsville/South Padre area in Texas & encourage friends to do so! SpaceX’s hiring needs for engineers, technicians, builders & essential support personnel of all kinds are growing rapidly.” So there may be a measure of self-interest in his education donations in Texas. The EdSurge headline put it bluntly: “Elon Musk Needs a Futuristic Workforce For SpaceX. Will His $20M Pledge to Schools Help?”

Musk has always been a billionaire who channels the vast majority of his world-changing energies into his tech enterprises, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he wants his philanthropy to complement that mission. And it’s not uncommon for businesses to give toward causes like education within their geographic footprints.

Self-interested or not, for school administrators in Cameron County, the unexpected infusion of funds—and the potential of future jobs for their graduates—is a boon in an area where incomes are low (median household income is $38,758, according to the Census Bureau’s most recent figures), and the unemployment rate is high. As Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) Deputy Superintendent Anysia Treviño told EdSurge, “This donation was really unexpected—and so needed. For BISD and the population of kids that we serve, it doesn’t come every day, or even every year.”

Trevino and other school administrators are hoping that the Musk Foundation will continue its support of area schools into the future. Musk himself isn’t broadcasting his long term plans, but in 2018, he laid out his interplanetary giving strategy in broad (280 character) brushstrokes: “About half my money is intended to help problems on Earth & half to help establish a self-sustaining city on Mars to ensure continuation of life (of all species) in case Earth gets hit by a meteor like the dinosaurs or WW3 happens & we destroy ourselves.”