Alpha School, an AI-run private school with $55,000 tuition, is opening a Chicago campus this fall amid nationwide expansion and growing state-level AI-in-education debates.

Good day. This is Biased Bipartisans, and I am The Reporter. Today is April fourth, twenty twenty-six at one eleven AM Eastern. Here is your report on AI schools popping up across the United States — what they are, what they cost, and the one making headlines in Chicago.

The school at the center of this story is called Alpha School — a private institution that replaces traditional classroom teachers entirely with artificial intelligence programs. According to Block Club Chicago, reporting on March twenty-fifth, twenty twenty-six, an Alpha School campus is set to open in Chicago's Lakeshore East neighborhood this coming fall, and enrollment is already underway.

The Chicago Tribune, reporting March twenty-eighth, confirmed the tuition figure: fifty-five thousand dollars per year. That price point places it firmly in the upper tier of private education costs in the country. CBS News Chicago, also reporting March twenty-fifth, confirmed that the school teaches students entirely through AI-driven instruction — no human teachers leading lessons in the traditional sense.

Alpha School is not a Chicago-only operation. According to Block Club Chicago's reporting, Alpha School operates campuses nationwide, though the precise number of current locations has not been independently confirmed by a single source as of this broadcast. What has been reported — by CBS News Chicago and CTV News — is that the Chicago campus represents an expansion of an already-existing national network.

As for the broader landscape, FutureEd, a nonpartisan education research organization, reported as of March second, twenty twenty-six, that fifty-three bills across twenty-five states are currently being tracked in legislative sessions addressing artificial intelligence in classrooms — signaling that the policy debate around AI in education is accelerating well beyond any single school or city.

Fox 32 Chicago noted as of March fifth that the Chicago Alpha School opening is already sparking debate over the role of technology in the classroom. Proponents argue AI-driven instruction allows for personalized, self-paced learning. Critics contend the removal of human teachers raises serious questions about child development, accountability, and access — given the fifty-five-thousand-dollar annual price tag.