Founded by Priscilla Chan in 2016, Mark Zuckerberg-backed school to shut as funding dries up

A school launched by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr Priscilla Chan, to give free education and healthcare support to low-income families has shut down after nearly 10 years. The Primary School, which received more than $125 million from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), closed in June after its board decided to wind up operations when it learned that funding would not continue beyond the 2025-26 academic year.

The Primary School, located in East Palo Alto, California, was founded in 2016 by Chan, a paediatrician, with the aim of bringing education, healthcare and family support together under one roof for children from low-income communities.

The closure marks the end of one of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's biggest education projects.

Explaining the decision, board president Jean-Claude Brizard told The Wall Street Journal that the board explored several options with CZI before deciding to shut the school.

Don't Miss: For every ₹1 spent on PM Modi's foreign visits since 2021, India received around ₹66,000 in FDI: Govt data shows

"The board wouldn't have voted to close without alignment from their biggest funder," he said.

A CZI spokesperson also told the newspaper that the decision was made by the school's board and that the organisation remained focused on academic outcomes rather than the cost of running the school.

A school that combined education, healthcare and family support

The Primary School was designed to tackle the challenges faced by children living in poverty by combining classroom learning with healthcare, mental health services and family support.

Students received free dental check-ups, developmental screenings and parents had access to wellness coaching. The model was inspired by Chan's experience as a paediatrician, where she saw that schools, healthcare providers and social services often worked separately despite serving the same families.

School staff also worked with local clinics to identify children with behavioural challenges, learning disabilities and other support needs. Around three in four students spoke a language other than English at home.

According to the school, about 85% of its students completed their annual well-child visit, compared with 55% of children enrolled in Medicaid across the county.

Chan remained closely involved during the school's early years, regularly visiting classrooms, reading to students and taking part in curriculum launches. Parents also attended coaching sessions and child development workshops held on campus.

Academic results remained below state averages

Despite the wide range of support services, the school's academic performance remained below California's state averages.

According to a Stanford University study, only 26% of Primary School students in third grade or above met literacy standards in spring 2025, compared with 47% statewide. However, the school said that more than 50% of its eighth-grade students reached proficiency in their final year.

School leaders and former employees also pointed to operational challenges, including frequent changes in principals and the difficulty of managing education, healthcare and family services within one organisation.

Former consultant Katherine Carter said there "really was not an understanding of the amount of time and support required to establish a new school model."

Chan herself admitted last year that academic outcomes were not where "frankly anyone would have wanted them to be," according to the WSJ report.

The school also tried several approaches that are uncommon in public schools. Teachers signed non-disclosure agreements, while some families took part in programmes that used recording devices to measure parent-child conversations as part of early language development initiatives.

Why the school closed

According to people familiar with the matter, the board decided to close the school after learning that CZI would stop funding it after the 2025-26 academic year.

CZI said its philanthropic priorities had gradually shifted towards scientific research, while funding for social advocacy had been reduced.

The organisation said the long-term plan had always been for the school to become financially sustainable through public funding instead of depending on philanthropy. However, attracting other donors proved difficult.

Brizard explained the challenge, saying, "Why would you give money to an entity being funded by one of the wealthiest people in the world?"

$50 million set aside to help families transition

When the closure was announced, CZI committed $50 million to support students and families during the transition.

The funding will cover the remaining balance on the school's lease, support local community organisations and provide education savings accounts worth $10,000 for elementary school students, $2,500 for preschoolers and $1,000 for children in early childhood education.

The Ravenswood City Elementary School District is also preparing for nearly 540 students from The Primary School by renovating facilities to accommodate the additional enrolment.

School staff helped families tour other schools, complete admission applications and open the education savings accounts funded by CZI.

For many parents, the school had become much more than a place for education because of the healthcare and family support it offered.

Parent Mele Fakapelea, whose eldest daughter was part of the founding class, described losing that support system as "crushing."