Elon Musk donates $423K to buy laptops for Flint, Michigan, students

Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote a sizable check to supply middle school students in Flint, Michigan, with laptops, according to a report Thursday.

The donation, which was made through the Elon Musk Foundation, will go toward the purchase of Chromebook laptops, MLive.com reported. A separate donation from the C.S. Mott Foundation will go toward a restructuring of the secondary school education system and curriculum in the embattled city.

“We will begin this winter with our current seventh graders moving into eighth grade and how they use that [laptop] technology and our current sixth graders and how they use that technology,” said Derrick Lopez, superintendent of Flint schools. “Then they will be able to take them home and use them as an instructional tool so that is power in and of itself.”

Musk previously donated more than $480,000 to Flint Community Schools toward the installation of water filtration systems in 12 schools. The city has battled a water crisis since at least 2014. The devices are expected to be installed by January.

The tech billionaire said last October that he hoped “to do more to help in the future” for Flint. Musk founded his charitable organization alongside his brother, Kimbal Musk.