Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan Criticized for Closing Bay Area Free School for Low-Income Students to Please Trump

In a shocking and politically charged move that has rattled East Palo Alto’s underserved communities, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan have announced the abrupt closure of The Primary School — a tuition-free educational institution they founded in 2016 to serve low-income families of color in the Bay Area. The decision, delivered without warning or clear explanation, has ignited outrage, grief, and accusations of betrayal, particularly as it coincides with Zuckerberg’s calculated political pivot toward President Donald Trump.

The Primary School was more than just a school. It was a symbol of the philanthropic mission espoused by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), which sought to combat systemic inequality through the integration of education, healthcare, and social support. The school offered families in East Palo Alto — just miles from Meta’s glistening corporate campus — a rare oasis in a region increasingly ravaged by gentrification, displacement, and deepening economic divides.

But now, that promise is being snatched away, with administrators confirming the institution will shutter completely by the end of the 2025–2026 academic year.

Zuckerberg and Chan’s retreat from their self-described “whole child” model of care for marginalized youth comes at a time when their political posture is undergoing a dramatic reorientation. Once aligned with progressive causes like racial equity, immigration reform, and science-based education, the couple has recently dismantled many of those commitments in what observers say is a bid to ingratiate themselves with the resurgent Trump administration.

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg publicly dismantled Meta’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs — an abrupt end to years of public investment in hiring, representation, and content moderation intended to fight misinformation and hate speech. In their place, Zuckerberg promoted a new “Community Notes” system, closely modeled after the one championed by Trump’s closest tech ally, Elon Musk, on the X platform.

Critics have argued the system erodes accountability and provides a false sense of crowd-sourced verification, especially in politically charged environments.

In a further sign of rapprochement with Trump, Meta contributed $1 million to the president’s inaugural committee. More controversially, the company agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump after he was banned from Facebook in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack.

Notably, $22 million of that settlement has reportedly been earmarked to help build Trump’s presidential library — a move described by many former Meta employees as a “dark twist” in the company’s supposed commitment to civic integrity.

It is in this context that the closure of The Primary School takes on a deeply political hue. The school’s mission — to dismantle barriers for low-income students of color — stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s education policies, which have favored school choice over public funding and cast a skeptical eye on race-conscious programs. Critics allege Zuckerberg is trading his philanthropic credibility for political access, hoping to position Meta favorably under a Trump-led federal government that is increasingly antagonistic toward Big Tech.

Community members, parents, and even school faculty say they were blindsided by the announcement. According to a report in The New York Times, administrators called families into what was described as a friendly breakfast gathering, complete with bagels and Starbucks coffee.

Instead, they dropped a bombshell: the school was closing, and no reason was offered. Emeline Vainikolo, a local parent, recounted how her young son, a kindergartener, tried to make sense of the news later that day. “Mommy, the guy who’s been giving money to our school doesn’t want to give it to us anymore,” he said.

To many parents, the explanation felt like a confirmation of what they already feared — that the billionaires who had once promised them hope were now pulling out for political convenience. Adding insult to injury, families say this betrayal follows years of displacement caused by the very tech economy Zuckerberg helped create. One mother told the San Francisco Standard, “They were already taking our homes because of Facebook, landlords pricing us out. Now they’re gonna take this away too. It seems unfair.”

In a brief and carefully worded statement, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative said it would continue investing $50 million in the region over the next few years. The funds, they claimed, would be distributed in the form of education savings accounts for current Primary School students and support services for families navigating new school districts.

But parents argue that no amount of transitional support can replace the security, familiarity, and community the school provided.

The closure also arrives amid CZI’s announced “strategic shift” earlier this year, which includes pulling back from its once-publicized work in social justice and racial equity. The nonprofit said it would now focus more narrowly on “science-driven solutions,” with special attention on biomedical research and technology — a pivot some analysts interpret as a hedge against future regulatory battles in Washington.

The couple’s internal DEI programs have also reportedly been scaled back or dissolved entirely, a move that many former staffers describe as both cynical and self-serving.

Meanwhile, the silence from The Primary School’s founders is deafening. Despite multiple requests for comment, neither Zuckerberg nor Chan has directly addressed the reasons for the school’s shutdown.

Sources close to the matter, however, say that the decision was discussed in tandem with Meta’s broader political strategy — a strategy that now revolves around protecting its market dominance and securing favorable treatment under a potential second Trump administration.

This isn’t the first time Zuckerberg has pivoted for political expediency. During the 2016 election, Facebook came under fire for allowing the spread of misinformation that disproportionately benefited Trump’s campaign.

Since then, Zuckerberg has walked a precarious line — defending free speech while promising to improve moderation, aligning with social causes while courting libertarian allies like Musk. But with the tides of Washington shifting once again, it appears Zuckerberg has decided that ambiguity no longer serves him.

Instead, he is now moving decisively — shedding progressive alliances, realigning Meta’s policies, and sacrificing once-cherished institutions like The Primary School in what appears to be a grand gesture of ideological loyalty to the Trump camp.

To families in East Palo Alto and the East Bay, the message is unmistakable: their children’s education is collateral in a billionaire’s quest for political redemption. For the rest of the country, it is yet another cautionary tale of how Silicon Valley’s rhetoric of social good often crumbles under the weight of political ambition.

The irony is difficult to ignore. In founding The Primary School, Chan and Zuckerberg explicitly cited the trauma and disadvantages faced by children in marginalized communities. They called for holistic support, early intervention, and a system that acknowledged the realities of poverty and racial bias.

Yet in shuttering the very institution designed to address those needs, and doing so in the shadow of political horse-trading, they have betrayed the very values they once championed.

What remains now are broken promises and disrupted futures — and a deepening distrust of tech philanthropists who talk about justice while aligning themselves with power. As one local educator put it, “You can’t build community when you’re only in it for the headlines. And you sure as hell can’t buy redemption with a settlement check and a photo op.”