A $40,000-a-Year AI School Is Opening in Oklahoma. No Teachers Required.
Alpha School opens its Edmond and Tulsa campuses on August 12, bringing a model that has generated both glowing national press coverage and pointed criticism from educators, researchers and privacy advocates. Students spend two hours each morning on an AI learning platform — half an hour per core subject — and afternoons in project-based workshops led by guides who are not required to have teaching credentials and don’t participate in instruction.
Tuition starts at $40,000 a year, nearly three times the cost of the next-most-expensive private school in each market. Founding families receive a $10,000 annual discount for five years. There is no financial aid and, at least for the first year, no Parental Choice Tax Credit — the school was listed on the Oklahoma Tax Commission’s approved list before Oklahoma Watch asked about it, at which point the state removed it…