Meta’s headquarters are located in the Bay Area of California, where Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, established a tuition-free school for low-income families in 2016.

The Primary School was established under the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), the philanthropic organization established by the couple.

Its objective was to integrate healthcare and education for students from birth to high school. Chan, a former pediatrician, once described the organization’s educational initiatives as a fusion of her two primary interests.

However, the Primary School abruptly proclaimed its intention to cease operations at the conclusion of the 2025-26 academic year last week.

In a message to the hundreds of families it serves across two campuses, the school referred to the closure as a “very difficult decision” but provided minimal explanation.

The closure occurs in the context of broader changes by CZI and its namesake executives, as well as the general repositioning of Big Tech in the era of President Donald Trump.

According to the San Francisco Standard and the New York Times, parents were informed that the school was closing due to CZI’s withdrawal of support.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s representative informed CNN that the school’s board of directors made the decision and cited its statement.

However, they declined to address an additional inquiry regarding the organization’s financial support for the school.

The school announced in its note this week that it intends to donate $50 million to the communities and families that have been impacted by the closure.

In an interview with CNN, Carson Cook, the senior manager of strategy and advancement at the Primary School, affirmed that the school initiated discussions with parents regarding the closure on the previous Thursday and that these discussions are still ongoing.

However, he declined to provide an explanation for the closure or the timing.
“Our model at the Primary School has always been one that meticulously considers the needs of the entire family, and we are committed to ensuring that every child and their caregiver receive the support they require,” Cook stated. “I believe that we simply wish to emphasize that this has not changed.”

Cook declined to provide an opinion regarding CZI. The philanthropy has recently experienced a series of substantial adjustments.

The organization informed employees in February that it would reduce its internal and external diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Zuckerberg’s company Meta had implemented a comparable action one month prior. This was one of numerous modifications that the social media behemoth has implemented since the beginning of the year that are favorable to the president.

Additionally, Zuckerberg and Chan were seated in a conspicuous position among other Big Tech executives at Trump’s inauguration.

Chan and Zuckerberg established their philanthropy initiative in 2015, concurrently with Zuckerberg’s commitment to donate 99% of his Facebook fortune.
Their objectives were as follows: personalized learning, curing diseases, community building, and connecting people.

The organization declared its commitment to enhancing health outcomes and its investment in additional education initiatives, as well as immigration and criminal justice reform initiatives. One of the initial investments was the Primary School.

Chan stated in a CNN column the year following the Primary School’s establishment that the organization aimed to mitigate “toxic stress” in children, which can result from neglect, abuse, or poverty.

She stated that the school’s initial success is evidence that “children and adults can develop resilience and flourish in the presence of trauma.”
The Primary School had established itself as a model for other organizations. In a 2023 tax filing, the school reported that over 95% of its students are “underrepresented minorities.”

Additionally, its medical director recently conducted a session at the SXSW conference to discuss the potential benefits of integrating early childhood education and healthcare for “the most vulnerable children and families.”

The school’s distinctive strategy involved the coupling of parents with “parent wellness coaches” in order to provide support to entire families, rather than just children.

Cook stated that the instructors will collaborate with parents to investigate alternative educational opportunities for their children following the closure of the Primary School next year.

Zuckerberg and Chan continued to advocate for social issues as Meta expanded and gained influence in the years following the school’s establishment.
In 2017, Zuckerberg made a commitment to visit and engage with individuals in every state of the United States. This initiative even sparked speculation that he may attempt to challenge Trump for the presidency in 2020.

In 2020, he and Chan called for “unity” and conveyed “disgust” in response to Trump’s inflammatory remarks regarding nationwide demonstrations against racial injustice.

However, Zuckerberg has since reversed his political stance.

After Trump survived an assassination attempt last summer, Zuckerberg referred to him as a “badass.” The CEO subsequently visited Mar-a-Lago in an effort to secure an “active role” in the president’s policy discussions.

Additionally, he contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration through Meta. Meta has also paid $25 million to resolve the lawsuit that Trump filed against the company for suspending his account following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Of this sum, $22 million will be used to support a prospective Trump presidential library.

Zuckerberg declared that the new administration presented “a genuine opportunity” for Meta to implement significant policy changes prior to Trump’s inauguration in January.

CZI announced in February that it would concentrate on science and “decline” its investment in “social advocacy.” This included the cessation of work on “immigration reform, as well as our racial equity grantmaking,” as well as its internal DEI programs.

CZI’s abrupt decision to close its doors is yet another example of how tech titans such as Meta have altered the community, and it is not always for the best, for the families at the Primary School.

For many years, Bay Area residents have expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that the influx of highly compensated tech workers has resulted in a housing shortage and the displacement of lower-income individuals from the region as Silicon Valley expanded.

In the aftermath of the housing crisis, a parent informed the San Francisco Standard that the school had been a “gift to the community.” “They are now going to take this away as well,” she stated.

Cook stated that the Primary School personnel is currently preoccupied with the year they have remaining with students.

“We have an exceptional staff, and the prospect of spending an additional year with our families only serves to energize and inspire us to deliver the highest quality of programming and education possible,” he stated. “Our team has a profound concern for the well-being of our children, families, and community.”