By STEVE CLARK and GARY LONG, Staff Writer
Less than two hours after Starship SN11 exploded in heavy fog during a failed landing at SpaceX’s Boca Chica site, the company’s founder and CEO Elon Musk came out with further explosive news.
Musk announced via Twitter that he planned to donate $20 million for schools in Cameron County and $10 million for downtown revitalization, with “details to come next week.”
Area school districts said they are eager to learn the details of Musk’s $20 million pledge to schools.
The San Benito school district said in a statement on behalf of Superintendent Dr. Nate Carman, “SBCISD is excited to learn of the $20 million that Elon Musk has announced will be donated to Cameron County schools. Though we can expect details next week, any additional funding that can be used for the betterment of our schools on behalf of our students is greatly appreciated. Considering the added challenges associated with educating students through this pandemic, the timing couldn’t be better.”
Rene Gutierrez, superintendent of the Brownsville Independent School District, and Point Isabel ISD Superintendent Teri Alarcon both said they would welcome the funds. Lacking further details, both also said they expected the funds could be used to enhance programs in the STEM fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
Gutierrez said he and several other local superintendents recently toured SpaceX facilities at Boca Chica with Musk. He said he came away from the meeting feeling that Musk wants to work with local school districts and is open to students coming out to the Starbase site as part of their coursework.
“This is great news,” Gutierrez said. “We’ll see what they allow us to do as far as allowing students on-site, but our kids stand to benefit.” He added that Career and Technical Education courses that lead to careers in the aerospace industry should benefit from the SpaceX connection.
Alarcon said her district “has not received word from SpaceX regarding this donation, but added in a text to The Brownsville Herald, “If we were to receive these funds, we would utilize the funds to enhance our STEM program.”
Alarcon added that “Point Isabel ISD is able to see the launches outside every campus.”
“Our students, from elementary to high school, can literally run outside every time a launch occurs! Expanding our STEM program with SpaceX’s financial support will provide our students with additional opportunities to ensure our curriculum is aligned with the work happening at SpaceX,” she said.
In addition to Port Isabel, Point Isabel ISD serves the towns of Laguna Vista and South Padre Island as well as the unincorporated community of Laguna Heights.
Officials contacted about the tweets expressed guarded optimism.
“We’re still waiting to hear any sort of details that he stated are coming,” said Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez. “We kind of temper the expectations and the excitement a bit until we get a chance to see what it’s all about. … This definitely came out of nowhere, but again it’s good news and we’re just waiting to hear whether there are any caveats or strings attached or things like that.”
Mendez said $10 million would have a “huge impact” on the downtown revitalization effort.
“The city’s invested millions of dollars over the last several years in downtown,” he said. “We know exactly what it means and the impact that it has. You’ve seen the changes over the last several years from that city investment, and you’re starting to see lot of private investment as well, and really seeing a lot of really positive momentum and a lot of positive energy and interest for downtown. … Infrastructure, other sorts of improvements, are sorely needed downtown and it’s just going to accelerate the process.”
Musk on Tuesday also issued a call for people to move to the greater Brownsville and South Padre Island area to work for SpaceX as the company scales up Starship development and seeks to dramatically increase its workforce.
“Please consider moving to Starbase or greater Brownsville/South Padre area in Texas & encourage friends to do so!” he tweeted. “SpaceX’s hiring needs for engineers, technicians, builders & essential support personnel of all kinds are growing rapidly.”
In late February SpaceX approached Cameron County with a proposal to incorporate Boca Chica Village adjacent to SpaceX’s Starship production complex as the city of Starbase, Texas.
Mendez said the impact SpaceX is making by bringing in hundreds or thousands of employees isn’t being talked about much.
“I think right now there are over 1,000,” he said. “He put out word and he’s looking for several thousand more employees. That’s a positive. Anytime you have an opportunity to bring in young engineers and brilliant minds into our community it’s always a plus. It has an impact on housing, on retail.
“It is a positive that they’re hiring what appears to be several thousands more people that are going to be coming to the Brownsville community. It brings all sorts of different values. Some of them you can’t quantify, but it’s had an impact on us and our ability to attract other business and industry into Brownsville.”
Mendez said he’s looking forward to seeing what the next couple of years will bring, while Musk tweeted Tuesday, “Starbase will grow by several thousand people over the next year or two.”
