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Millionaire entrepreneurs from South Florida have taken it upon themselves to secure elite educational options—outside of traditional education—for their children.
But instead of waiting for the system—money allows them to do so—they are founding and financing their own private schools.
The most prominent case is that of John Marshall, a tech entrepreneur and co-founder of AirWatch - sold to VMware in 2014 for $1.54 billion - who moved to Miami Beach that same year and, upon becoming a father, began to question the educational options available.
"The deeper we delved into what we wanted in a school, the more we felt we needed to create our own," he explained to Telemundo 51.
This conviction led him to found BaseCamp305, which opened in 2019 and now operates two campuses in Miami Beach: one on Collins Avenue for preschool through second grade, and another west of Fifth Street for third through fifth grade.
The school serves about 50 students with a curriculum focused on entrepreneurship, project-based learning, and technology, where students regularly work with robots and 3D printers.
The annual tuition is around $30,000, and the teachers—selected for both their academic credentials and their professional experience outside the classroom—can earn over $80,000 a year, more than double the typical salary in many private schools in Miami.
Marshall acknowledges that establishing an educational institution from scratch is not easy. "Land prices are astronomical. But just getting something done takes a lot of time, a lot of energy, and, to some extent, a lot of friction with the community and the city," he admitted.
The school began operations by renting a floor in Emilio Estefan's office building and, after years of efforts, has just received approval from the historic board of Miami Beach to demolish a building on Washington Avenue and build a grass field as a recreational area.
"Thus, the children will also have a really nice outdoor play area," said Marshall about the project, which will include new classrooms, outdoor space, and a community event hall, set to open in the fall of this year.
BaseCamp305 is not an isolated phenomenon. In Palm Beach, real estate developer Jeff Greene founded The Greene School, a private school from kindergarten to 12th grade, with tuition ranging from $46,000 to $49,000 per year, where between 52% and 60% of students receive some form of financial aid.
Also in Palm Beach County, mogul Stephen Ross plans to open Wingrove Academy in Wellington for the 2028 school year, a 45-acre campus with a capacity for up to 1,700 students.
Co-founder of WeWork, Adam Neumann, and his wife Rebekah are promoting SOLFL - Student of Life, For Life - a private Jewish school planned for El Portal, a village in Miami-Dade, with capacity for 350 students and tuition that could reach $45,000 per year, although the project has sparked controversy among neighbors due to the demolition of a Methodist church.
The phenomenon responds to a real demand: since 2020, South Florida has received wave after wave of wealthy families relocating in search of tax advantages and quality of life, saturating the supply of elite private schools to the point that, according to reports from 2025, "each grade level has far more demand than available spaces."
For Marshall, motivation goes beyond business. "Entrepreneurs are coming in with a vision of where the world is headed. There's nothing wrong with adding more dynamism. When schools are built, the goal is to raise the level for everyone," he noted.
"We are world-class in beaches, restaurants, and festivals," he concluded. "People should think of Miami Beach as world-class in schools. There's no reason why we shouldn't be."
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