Oracle to build high school on its Silicon Valley campus

Oracle founder Larry Ellison already owns an island in Hawaii. Now, his company is building a high school next to its Silicon Valley headquarters to help fulfill Ellison’s desire to teach students more about technology and problem-solving.

The plan unveiled at an Oracle customer conference calls for the business software maker to complete the 64,000-square-foot school by August 2017.

Although it will be owned by one of the world’s biggest technology companies, the school isn’t going to be called ‘Oracle High’. Instead, it will be known as Design Tech, or ‘d.tech’, a public school approved last year.

The campus being built by Oracle will accommodate up to 550 students and 30 teachers in the shadow of Oracle’s towering office in Redwood Shores, California, about 25 miles south of San Francisco. The school will be free and open to any student living in California.

Since starting Oracle Corp 38 years ago, Ellison has amassed an estimated fortune of $54 billion that has enabled him to buy most of the Hawaiian island of Lanai, own elaborate homes around the world and bankroll two victories in sailing’s premier race, the America’s Cup.

But Ellison isn’t financing Design Tech. Oracle is footing the entire bill, though the company isn’t disclosing how much it expects to spend.

Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz stressed the company wouldn’t be getting involved if Ellison hadn’t sketched out a vision to create a school where “students learn to think.”

Although Oracle will own the high school, the company won’t be involved in the curriculum. Design Tech gained Oracle’s financial support because it “reflects Larry’s vision for a unique high school founded on principles we believe in: Innovation, creativity, problem-solving and design-thinking,” Catz said.