A new private school opening in Oklahoma is drawing attention for a model that removes traditional classroom teachers from the center of instruction and replaces much of the academic day with artificial intelligence, while charging families $40,000 a year in tuition.
KFOR Oklahoma’s News 4 reporter Tanner DeLeon said Alpha School, a Texas-based private school network already operating in several states, plans to open new locations in Tulsa and Edmond, with the Edmond campus branded as Alpha Oklahoma City and scheduled to begin classes on August 12.
The school says its students can move through core academics faster because lessons are personalized by AI, leaving more of the day for workshops on leadership, financial literacy, teamwork, public speaking, and other practical skills. Supporters see that as a more efficient way to learn, while critics are asking whether children should spend their academic time without instruction from a traditional certified teacher.
AI Handles the Academic Work
Alpha School co-founder Mackenzie Price told DeLeon that the basic idea is to use artificial intelligence to “raise human intelligence” by giving each student an individualized academic path rather than teaching an entire class at one pace.
Students spend only about two hours each morning on core subjects such as math, reading, language, and science, with roughly 25 minutes devoted to each area.
Price said the software adjusts lessons to the exact level and pace of each student, meaning children who understand a concept quickly can move ahead while those who need more time can stay with it without holding up or being held back by the rest of the class.
That is one of the strongest arguments for AI-based education because traditional classrooms inevitably require teachers to balance the needs of many students at once. Personalized software can, at least in theory, make those differences easier to manage.
The tradeoff is that students are no longer receiving that core instruction from a teacher standing in front of the room.
The Adults in the Room Are Called “Guides”
Alpha does have adults in the classroom, but the school calls them guides rather than teachers.
Price told KFOR that their role is focused much more on emotional support, motivation, and building relationships with students than on delivering academic lessons.
“Our teachers, we call them guides, are completely focused on motivational and emotional support and connecting with every single one of their students,” Price said.
Those guides are not required to hold teaching certificates.
Instead, DeLeon reported that Alpha recruits people with what the school considers unconventional educational backgrounds and pays them a starting salary of $100,000.
The school also keeps class sizes small, with Price saying there is one guide for every 10 students.
After the two-hour academic block, guides lead project-based workshops centered on skills such as financial literacy, teamwork, grit, leadership, public speaking, and hard work.
That structure makes Alpha less like a conventional school with AI added to the classroom and more like a fundamentally different model in which software handles academics while adults focus on coaching and development.
The School Says Its Results Justify the Approach
Price said Alpha’s students are not being given a simplified curriculum.
She told DeLeon that the AI software is built around the same academic material students would encounter in more traditional schools, but the difference is that each child works at an individualized pace.
Price also pointed to college admissions and test results as evidence that the model can produce strong outcomes.
She said Alpha graduates have gone on to schools including Stanford, UCLA, Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and USC, while the school’s senior SAT average this past year was 1540.
Those are impressive claims, although the bigger question is whether the same results can be maintained as the network expands into more locations and serves a broader range of students.
A model that works well for a highly selected private-school population may not necessarily translate neatly to every educational setting, but Alpha is clearly betting that personalization will remain one of its biggest advantages.
One Oklahoma Lawmaker Has Serious Concerns
Not everyone is convinced.
Democratic Oklahoma state Rep. Cindy Munson, who is also running for governor, told KFOR that she has significant concerns about children receiving instruction primarily through artificial intelligence.
“I have a lot of questions,” Munson said.
She argued that students benefit from being face to face with highly trained teachers and questioned whether an AI-driven private school provides the same kind of accountability, oversight, and transparency expected in public education.
Munson’s concern gets at something larger than whether software can teach algebra or reading comprehension effectively.
Schools do more than deliver information, and the role of a trained teacher can include reading a room, noticing emotional or behavioral problems, changing an explanation on the fly, and responding to needs that may not show up neatly in an algorithm.
Alpha’s answer is that its guides are supposed to fill much of that human role, while the AI handles the academics more efficiently.
Whether parents find that separation reassuring or uncomfortable will likely depend on how much they trust technology to take over the instructional side of education.
The $40,000 Price Tag Is Turning Heads
The cost is another major part of the debate.
DeLeon reported that Alpha Oklahoma City will charge $40,000 per year, making it more expensive than any other private school in Oklahoma.
For comparison, he said tuition at Casady School tops out at just under $28,000 a year.
Price said part of the higher cost comes from the school’s decision to pay guides well and maintain very low student-to-adult ratios.
She pointed again to the $100,000 starting salary for guides and the 10-to-1 ratio as major expenses.
Even so, $40,000 is a large price for a model whose main academic selling point is that students spend less time in traditional instruction.
That creates an unusual contrast: Alpha is asking families to pay more for a school where the academic portion of the day is shorter and less dependent on human teachers.
Supporters would argue that families are paying for personalization, small groups, intensive coaching, and the broader workshop model rather than just classroom hours.
Critics are likely to see the tuition as another reason to question whether AI-based education is being positioned as an elite experiment rather than a broadly accessible alternative.
Questions About Public Money Remain
Munson also raised concerns about whether public tax dollars could eventually help families pay for tuition at schools like Alpha.
She said parents should have the right to choose where their children attend school, but argued that taxpayer money should not automatically flow to private institutions that do not operate under the same rules as public schools.
Price told KFOR that Alpha did not sign up for Oklahoma’s Parental Choice Tax Credit this year.
That means the Oklahoma location is not currently using that particular tax-credit program, according to the school.
The broader policy question remains, however, because private-school choice programs continue to expand in many parts of the country and AI-focused schools could eventually become part of those debates.
The Campus Is Still Coming Together
DeLeon also reported that when KFOR visited the listed Edmond address near Second Street and Coltrane, the property did not appear fully ready for students.
Price said she had not personally visited the site yet but said Alpha was excited about the real estate and campus it had secured.
Classes are expected to begin August 12.
That leaves a short window for the school to finish preparing its Oklahoma City-area location and convince families that a highly unconventional model can justify both its promises and its price.
Alpha School is not simply introducing more technology into a classroom. It is questioning whether the traditional teacher-led classroom needs to remain the center of education at all.
That is why the school is attracting so much attention.
For some parents, two hours of personalized AI instruction followed by a day of practical workshops may sound like a more modern and efficient education. For others, the idea of paying $40,000 a year for a school without traditional teachers may feel like a risky experiment whose long-term value has yet to be proven.
Ed spent his childhood in the backwoods of Maine, where harsh winters taught him the value of survival skills. With a background in bushcraft and off-grid living, Ed has honed his expertise in fire-making, hunting, and wild foraging. He writes from personal experience, sharing practical tips and hands-on techniques to thrive in any outdoor environment. Whether it’s primitive camping or full-scale survival, Ed’s advice is grounded in real-life challenges.
