A billionaire-backed private school with no traditional teachers and $65,000 annual tuition is opening next month on Miami Beach's Normandy Isle, adding another private option to a South Florida landscape that's already pulling students from Miami-Dade public schools, including Key Biscayne K-8 Center.
Alpha School paid $19 million for former Montessori campus
Alpha School paid $19 million in June for the former Papillon Montessori campus at 1021 Biarritz Drive and plans to open a K-8 program in August for the 2026-27 school year, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday, citing Miami-Dade property records. The three-building, 1-acre campus can hold up to 250 students and comes with a swimming pool, hydroponic garden, koi pond and outdoor classrooms. The Montessori school had operated there since 1999 and sold after facing a foreclosure lawsuit.
The school replaces conventional teachers with adults called "guides" who earn roughly $150,000 a year and are not required to hold teaching credentials, according to a New York Post report on Alpha's Los Angeles expansion. Students spend about two hours daily on core academics through an AI tutor, then rotate into workshops on leadership, entrepreneurship and public speaking.
Billionaire founder claims AI teaches "10 times faster"
Austin, Texas, software billionaire Joe Liemandt, founder of Trilogy Software and ESW Capital, is Alpha's principal investor. Forbes pegs his net worth at $6 billion, according to the Herald. He has committed $1 billion to the venture, claiming the AI model teaches students "about 10 times faster than traditional instruction." Investigations by The Wall Street Journal, Wired and 404 Media have questioned those academic claims, raising concerns about lesson quality, student oversight and data security. Alpha has disputed the criticisms and did not respond to the Herald's requests for comment.
Key Biscayne's only public school faces enrollment pressure
The opening comes amid broader enrollment pressures on Key Biscayne K-8 Center, the island's only public school. Robert Duzoglou, representing the village's Education Advisory Board, told officials in March that declining middle-school numbers "raised the biggest alarms," the Islander News reported March 18.
Key Biscayne K-8 earned an A grade for 2025-26, according to the school's announcement July 1, and holds a STEM Silver Designation. Principal Evie Mayor's school serves about 890 students at 150 West McIntyre St. But strong grades haven't insulated it from the forces reshaping Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
Districtwide, M-DCPS lost roughly 12,100 students from traditional public schools between October 2024 and October 2025, according to Axios, driven largely by Florida's expanded voucher program. Overall first-day enrollment fell from 335,474 in 2024-25 to 323,297 in 2025-26. The district faced a $50 million budget shortfall and has weighed consolidating more than two dozen underenrolled campuses for 2026-27.
Griffin, Ansin add to a crowded field of new entrants
Alpha isn't the only deep-pocketed newcomer. Citadel founder Ken Griffin donated $50 million to bring the Success Academy charter network into South Florida, with five locations inside Miami-Dade public high schools approved by the school board in April. Real estate developer Andy Ansin, owner of WSVN/Channel 7, told the Miami Herald he is purchasing land in northeastern Miami-Dade County for a new elite private school.
"We really need a top private school in the northeastern part of the county," Ansin said. "There's tremendous demand."
Families seeking open seats or late-enrollment options for the 2026-27 school year can check the M-DCPS Parent Portal at dadeschools.net.
