The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropy wey Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and im wife Dr. Priscilla Chan create, don shut down The Primary School for Palo Alto, California after exactly 10 years. This school no dey collect school fees. Instead, e dey offer free education, free healthcare, and social services for lower-income children and family dem for the area.
From report wey dey circulate, CZI pour about $125 million inside this project. Students no pay anything. But despite the big money, the school still close. Why? Because dem no see the results wey dem want quick enough. Test scores and other outcomes no dey reach the level wey dem expect.
The problem na say CZI no want to be the permanent financier. Dem try to find other investors wey fit come in, but nobody show. As Priscilla Chan talk, dem no dey get the investment and the results wey dem need. So dem vote to close the school.
According to Stanford University statistics, for spring 2025, only 14 percent of local students for East Palo Alto from third grade upwards fit pass literacy standard. For The Primary School, e dey better: 26 percent pass. But statewide, 47 percent dey pass. So even with the extra health and social services wey the school dey provide, e still dey below the state benchmark.
Yahoo Finance senior reporter Ines Ferré and breaking news reporter Jake Conley talk about this matter with morning host Julie Hyman. Dem dey look at the Wall Street Journal report. The point wey dem make na say we don see this thing many times. Tech people dey enter areas wey no be tech, dem try to apply first principles and the same approach wey dey work for software. But for education, e no dey work fast. Or e no dey give dem the quick bang wey dem expect. So dem just pull out.
Ferré note sey even the schools for their own children still dey face challenge. E no dey easy to reform education. We see am during the first Trump administration when dem push hard to defund the Department of Education. E no be just about throwing money or cutting money. The thing get many layers.
So for now, the school wey dey serve poor community for East Palo Alto don close. The children and family wey dey rely on am go need to find another place. But the big question remains: make people wey get money and power just abandon project when e no give dem instant result?
