Alpha School was launched in 2014 by the tech entrepreneur MacKenzie Price and the private equity billionaire Joseph Liemandt. It is perhaps the most well known of the growing list of AI K-12 schools operating in the United States.
Alpha represents a particular vision of education reform – one that has caught the attention of the Trump administration. Education Secretary Linda McMahon toured its Austin, Texas, campus in 2025, and first lady Melania Trump invited an Alpha student as her guest to the State of the Union address in 2026.
Alpha operates more than a dozen campuses across major cities like New York and Miami. Annual tuition ranges from about US$40,000 to $75,000 per year, depending on the school’s location. Students learn core subjects like math, reading, science and social studies from adaptive AI software for one to two hours a day.
Students spend the rest of their time in workshops on topics like public speaking, coding, outdoor education and other projects. Their sessions are led by adults – typically not accredited teachers – whom the school calls guides.
