AI-powered Alpha Schools to expand in North Texas
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Students use AI software alongside in-person workshops. Photo: Courtesy of Alpha Schools
The high-end, AI-powered private school Alpha Schools plans to grow from a dozen to roughly 50 campuses in the 2026 school year, its founder tells Axios.
Why it matters: While traditional schools navigate how to adopt AI, Alpha Schools has created an AI-dependent classroom model that the company claims reduces screen time and increases human interaction.
- Tuition costs $45,000 to $75,000 a year.
Zoom in: This school year, Alpha plans to open campuses in 27 markets, including Highland Park, Carrollton and Southlake.
- Some openings were previously announced and delayed, largely because of real estate issues, says MacKenzie Price, co-founder and CEO of Alpha Schools.
- Alpha currently has two locations in North Texas — Plano and Fort Worth.
How it works: Students spend no more than two hours a day on AI software to learn core subjects, Price says.
- They spend the rest of the day developing life skills in workshops. (For example, students have organized a music festival for a nonprofit.)
- Instead of licensed teachers conducting lessons, Alpha Schools hires "guides" whose jobs are to motivate and coach students. They're paid at least $100,000 a year.
The big picture: Many public schools have been slow to put clear guardrails around AI.
- Just 18% of teachers in public K-12 schools in a recent Gallup study said they've received formal guidance from school administrators on how to use AI tools.
- Meanwhile, parents are balancing whether letting their children use AI strengthens digital literacy or results in cognitive decline. The research is limited.
Friction point: Penn State professor Gerald LeTendre says his concern with AI education models — including Unbound Academy and Khan Lab School — is they risk conflating teaching and tutoring.
- "AI tutoring can help, but it has to be within an atmosphere where there's deep human contact with a highly qualified teacher," he adds.
- He argues helping teachers become proficient in AI is a more promising strategy than replacing them.