Chan Zuckerberg Initiative shuts down decade-long free school experiment
After ten years, the Primary School founded by Priscilla Chan in East Palo Alto is closing because its academic results fell short of expectations and funding will end.
Priscilla Chan created the Primary School in East Palo Alto a decade ago, financing it through large grants from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and pairing it with a nearby health center to deliver free medical, dental and even prenatal services. The model aimed to address trauma and chronic stress by integrating health care with education from kindergarten through grade 12. Over ten years the school did not submit performance data to California and, according to a Stanford report, its literacy scores were modestly above local private schools but well below the state norm of 47%.
In April 2025 the governing board unanimously decided to close the school after the initiative announced it would stop funding after the 2025-26 academic year. The closure leaves families searching for new placements, highlighting the difficulty of scaling such holistic, privately funded education experiments.
Why it matters
The shutdown shows the challenges of sustaining costly, private education models that aim to combine schooling with health services.
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