In a year where Mark Zuckerberg saw his fortune skyrocket by an astonishing $85 billion, a decision has cast a shadow on his philanthropic image. The Primary School, an educational project he founded to help children from poor backgrounds, is set to close its doors. The news has sparked heated debates, especially since this school was a beacon of hope for many communities.
The ambitious vision behind the primary school initiative
Founded in 2016 by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, The Primary School aimed to rethink education by merging teaching, healthcare, and social support under one roof. Located in California, it was designed specifically for the cityโs most disadvantaged children. The project was overwhelmingly funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), which invested roughly $100 million between 2018 and 2024.
Yet, despite this massive financial backing, The Primary School struggled to become financially independent. It failed to attract significant support from either public or private sources beyond the CZI. Jean-Claude Brizard, who served as the schoolโs board chairman, stressed the need for sustainability, stating:
โIf a project depends 100% or even 50% on philanthropy, itโs not a viable long-term model.โ
Financial challenges force the school to close
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The closure announcement came in April 2025, confirming the school will shut by 2026. While no official explanation was provided, multiple sources โ including The New York Times โ report that CZI pulled its funding, creating an unavoidable budget crisis. Donations plummeted from $8 million in 2022 to just $3.7 million in 2023, making the schoolโs operation unsustainable.
The impact on families and the local community was immediate and emotional. Many parents expressed their frustration, some pointing out the stark contrast between Zuckerbergโs immense wealth โ now surpassing $200 billion โ and the loss of such an essential service for disadvantaged children. One parent asked pointedly:
โHeโs a billionaire. Why would he close a school for poor kids?โ
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has since indicated it will concentrate its resources on scientific research and artificial intelligence, a strategic pivot reflecting a broader shift in philanthropy trends in the United States. This move underlines growing national interest in tech-driven initiatives, potentially at the expense of community-centered projects.
What the closure says about philanthropyโs limits
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The shutdown of The Primary School highlights a critical issue in philanthropy: projects heavily reliant on a single wealthy donor often lack long-term stability. For many families, this school was more than just a place to learn. It was a symbol of equal opportunity in a reality where financial hardships can define a childโs future.
I canโt help but reflect on the fragile nature of such charity models. Once, I volunteered at a local community center funded by a single donor. When that funding dried up, the center had to close, leaving many in the community without vital support. It was a harsh reminder that even good intentions need diverse backing to survive.
With Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth exploding, the story of his schoolโs closure begs a hard question: how lasting and impactful is the social commitment of the ultra-rich? Does booming wealth translate into sustained support for community welfare, or do priorities shift with the changing tides of public interest and technological fascination?
What do you think? Should billionaires bear more responsibility for ensuring their philanthropy creates enduring change? Or is it up to the broader community and government to fill these gaps? Share your thoughts below โ your voice matters in this vital conversation.
He needs to be more worried about fixing metas broken ai moderation system and stop disabling innocent peoples accounts for no reason and not being able to get a hold of a real person for customer service
Just like he told me July 4th 2022 is that your account and disabled My account after I Saw what they didn’t want me to see then asked me what was we doing writing another book
What did you see? That’s the whole point
My asking, where are the financial sheets to prove where the millions were spent in such a short time? 6 years is an amazingly short time to blow through millions for poor communities. Every student should be excelled further than private sectors on that amount of money. Let’s see some accountability. Give me the money and I will go into poor communities and we will make it last longer than just 6 years.
Itโs California. He probably saw admin workers getting wealthy behind a wall of kickbacks. Tale as old as time in Cali.
Right is it going towards the children or towards an administrator?
Exactly! Where did the funds go?
If I were funding something like that, and I found out that the funds were being misused, I’d shut it down too.
Agreed. And the school itself needs to fund raise, apply for grants, whatever. I donโt agree with closing it but you canโt expect one man to fund it forever.
This!!
It’s his money to do with as he pleases. Im not a fan of his or his wife. But he made yhe money and he can spend as he likes. Billionaires are not responsible for all the people in the US. We are all put here to do our best until the Lord calls us home.
100 million!!! I missed the student attendance, grades,athletics…. Fundraisers? Kinda like when people feel they should be hiven food,medical and housing for absolutley nothing in return. somehow the self entitlement out weighs putting in the work
I agree. My account got unjustly banned a month ago.
you saw nothing, youre just a garbage person with a 0 IQ who cant tell fact from fiction from literally nothing
Hope the book has a proof reader.
Democracy was doing pretty well in USA before Capitalism exploded and bred disassociated billionaires. Humans are losing at the game of love and compassion. Trading it all for Bots and bolts. And research for the rich to live longer in a planet pillaged for gold and glory forgetting God. Have fun guys !
EXCELLENT points!
The truth that this article brings out disgusts me. There’s NO reason whatsoever that Zuck can’t sustain the school forever and also find other ventures to support his whims. Unbelievable Greed is what he models
These disgusting billionaires make me sick. They talk the talk but don’t follow through. They can buy 700 million dollar toys but they can’t help the people who really need it. So much for compassion. I’m sure they make Satan very happy!!
Agreed ๐ฏ
Absolutely. All these self centered asshole billionaires have MORE than enough to help with people problems and STILL have more than enough to play God with their dumb robots.
Why should he endlessly support a unsustainable model?
Because he’s rich?
Why didn’t the administration or parents get their shit together and find other sources of funding?
Because even given a gigantic leg up by Zuckerberg.
All they can think is why doesn’t he just give us more money?
And that’s why most of them are poor
You make great points and these types of conversations should be had. Iโd like to know if the person in charge was made aware of this prior. They could have simply stated we need to continue fundraising to continue to fund the school.
How do you know that the parents and the administration didn’t look for other sources? Has it ever occurred to you that they couldn’t find anybody? There’s a lot of people like you who could careless about poor kids.
You hit the nail on the head. These ungrateful takers took the money and ran, leaving those poor kids in the lurch. Itโs all gimme, gimme without wanting to work for it. Same socialist results every time.
Article states: “The Primary School, an educational project he founded to help children from poor backgrounds, is set to close its doors.”
He founded it, so its failure is his responsibility too!
“The Primary School, an educational project he founded to help children from poor backgrounds, is set to close its doors.”
The ‘he’ in the article is Mr. Zuckerberg!
Why?
Reason 1 = he started the school
Reason 2= his wealth increased by $84 BILLION- not million in one years time.
He can well afford to keep it running, and help many other poor families because he has the means to do so. How much money is enough money? GREED is the problem. The rich only care about getting richer and richer and donโt give a rats a$$ about the underprivileged or people in need.
Not to mention the number of homeless and veterans with homes who need help. You can bet I would move to another country before I would serve for this country. Why put your life on the line if the government isnโt going to help you when you are down and out and need it. The government give themselves tax breaks that make them richer and richer while the working people pay the majority of tax and canโt get ahead. Greed is evil and you see more and more of it every day. Itโs absolutely disgusting.
People in low income communities often attend underfunded schools with fewer resources. Poor education limits job prospects and earning potential later in life. Socioeconomic (I know-probably too big of a word for you to research) systems are tilted in favor of people who already have wealth, education, and connections. Poverty is not usually caused by laziness or individual failure, but by structural barriers that make it hard for some people to move up.
Agree!!! These billionaires are totally corrupt and disgusting
Right?! NO reason whatsoever not to sustain that school forEVER! Unbelievable greed indeed.
I hope you know that just because his “value” increased, doesn’t mean he has actual cash to spend. It’s all wrapped up in buildings and staff and his businesses.
Each company is it’s own business. You can’t (shouldn’t) launder money through other businesses.
If it’s FAILING then tossing money on a burning fire is not the answer. Zuck probably did toss some donations their way but if it cannot stay afloat without external income streams, then it is just the end.
Y’all COULD donate to it yourselves and keep it afloat. So really it’s closing because of US. The power to keep it open rests with you.
Correct. Just like NPR and the arts. If they canโt support themselves, then they shouldnโt survive. If they can raise private money, then good for them. They shouldnโt rely on government handouts. The government has no money to give. Itโs all the American peoples money – robbing from Peter to pay Paul, you know, like a ponzi scheme where if it were you and I, weโd be in prison.
The lesson here is that no matter how much you donate commies will never be happy and the leeches will always want more
Unfortunately greed is here to stay…..what’s the answer…compassion for your fellow man. Capitalism will ALWAYS win in the long run
Luke 12:48 The greatest investment a person can make is in others. Especially the least of us. Spiritual poverty unfortunatley can prevail in any of. Its sad that the Zukerbergs have chosen to not shine a light on the least of us. God bless
Such assumptions. You can’t presume to know his thoughts or motives; you can only guess. And he is not duty-bound to explain himself.
Agree completely!
With so much funding why didn’t a school like this find a way to earn future money to sustain it.
Self responsibility and reliability should have been first thoughts for long term goals.
Just because someone gives you a step up does not make them responsible to carry you the rest of the way.
It’s his monies to throw where he wants. Be thankful he helped you. Start a go fund me
He paid for a school for 6 years, medical, psychiatrist, and education!!! He gave 100 Million of his dollars that he worked his butt off for to kids whoโs parents clearly are unappreciative, greedy, and absolutely not taking responsibility for their own children that they absolutely had no business having!!! They should be thanking him for trying to help them help themselves, when clearly they are not doing a good job financially supporting humans they created and now expect someone to hand them free stuff, cause the six free years of free education, medical, and crazy people doctors wasnโt good enough๐คฆโโ๏ธ๐คท ๐คฃ
I agree with this statement. He can keep the preforming schools going with an eye on accounting systems and tracking the measurable improvement for each student. Track their relative improvement year-year. (Validate no bias in the metrics)
He can fund raise on the positive results alone not to mention from his personal contact pool.
He currently has the financial capability to place funds aside in perpetuity for some number of performing schools. That will create competition between schools.
Create and measure results and donโt kill a dream.
Wow you hit the nail on the head
I really do get ya, how much longer before we blow the entire planet up?
I agree
Yes ๐
Very well put!
Right on. One hundred million is not going to create a permanent financial structure to operate a school for poor children. This is an example of a hobbyist whim of an oligarch. In the past the ultra rush created foundations that became self sustaining through endowments (Ford, Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc). These are all active and vital today after over 109 years. These people are supposedly so smart but they just demonstrate their inflated egos doom every charitable effort to failure.
At least he tried to help the people, but itโs not good enoughโฆ they want more more more free free free
When was democracy doing well and capitalism didn’t exist?
What’s God got to do with anything? It’s a purely mythical entity which needs to be killed off once and for all. If there was such a thing as this God, surely it would tell Mark Zuckerberg to spend it on the the kids. There isn’t, and it doesn’t.๐ค
The supreme courts decision to allow “Citizens United” was the beginning of the end. To allow corporations to donate whatever they wanted to influence our lawmakers took the last bit of power the common man had in this country. No matter how many citizens approve of a bil, it won’t pass unless the 1% approves it.
Capitalism is not the problem. The type of American capitalism created by Jack Welch and his followers became the problem. Prior to Neutron Jimmy, companies were proud of taking care of their employees and communities and of paying taxes. After, it was only about short term profits.
there have always been โbillionairesโ they just only became actual billionaires bc of inflation over time. a billionaires wealth compared to that of a plumbers used to be a Robber Baronโs wealth compared to that of a chinese immigrant building Americaโs railroads used to be a kingโs wealth to that of a peasantโs. it isnt the fact that they are billionaires that is important, it is their wealthโs comparative size to that of a โnormalโ person that is the issue.
Wealth disparity at its finest. $100 million over 6 years is $17 million per year given to that school for disadvantagd children. Zuckerberg made $84 billion in one year. So, $17 million is a mere 0.0002 times that single year income. But he wants to focus on scientific research and AI, because these things are profitable. FFS, the middle and lower classes are 100% screwed… until we have a social uprising like we haven’t seen in 200 years. Because that is exactly where we are headed with the wealth inequality.
So sad. Heโs riding a $500 million yacht and can give a little something to the poor. Iโm done with Facebook or Meta
First. Learn that we live under a government of Representative Democraccy. NOT A DEMOCRACY. Second, Democracy and Capitalism are NOT related. You are enjoying all of fruits of Capitalism. Please enjoy and make an effort to educate yourself. Good luck and may God bless us all.
.
Capitalism works great until you mix in corrupt politicians and media. Thatโs the issue. They arenโt taking money away from anyone. If you allow socialism/communism then you wonโt have any choices for sure. You can eat what they let you eat and work where they tell you to work. If you say the wrong thing they can take you from your home and family and force you to do whatever they want. You canโt complain because they will make it worse the next time. Donโt be a doofus.
M. Zuckerberg supporting and sustaining this school would have easily been a part of his on-going legacy. He will not long be remembered for his technological prowess, for technology comes and goes. But the impact of this school on the hearts and minds of the children would have lived on for generations with ever thankfulness, and memories of M. Zuckerberg. Now, after his life has gone the way that all life goes, he eventually may leave his weath to some other entities, but the impact will not live on as it would have in the minds and hearts of those little ones. “For those who have much, much is expectedโ.
Amen!
He has now fallen in line with Trump and the likes of Elon Musk!! I knew it wouldn’t be long before he would leave the poor behind and become all things billionaires. This is definitely all about GREED!!
This is the only good post here- completely agree
If he had just put a billion in a trust fund it would prob gain enough interest to keep the schools open indefinitely ! Losing one billion out of over 85 isnโt going to put a strain on his pocket book!
You are right on the money. No pun intended.
Absolutely where I was going with my comment. Itโs $1 billion out of now more than $200 billion . Yes thatโs not liquid but he could easily have set up a trust based on tech or whatever he wanted to totally fund this for decades if not forever !
Useless moron
Exactly.
It wouldnโt even require a billion.
Setting up a $100 million foundation in a trust tied to well-managed investments would keep this school going for generations.
The only thing that would undo it would be mismanagement or future greed or embezzlement.
Very well said!!!!
He’s always has been self absorbed. The fact is the 10% of the wealthiest individuals own 70% of the wealth. The only billionaire is Bill Gates whose a good individual
You’re so right. 8 million to keep the dream of these young people alive would cost him 1/10000 of his 85 billion dollar gain for the year. Crazily insensitive individual…
That is what I was thinking!!
TRUE!!!!!!
Tried!!!! 1Billion which would have netted multi billions in a Trust with NO SUNSET CLAUSE
Well said. I’m always asking how many billions does one person need? Musk and Zuckerberg each, alone, could buy most small countries let alone support a community school. Yes if they had invested the few million startup the dividends would continue support the school. Greed- where compassion goes to die.
Yes ๐
Yes! Well said!
Never enough. Why do you think Trump keeps reaching out for money money, money.
I agree. How much money does he really need. Do something right. Help the school for the poor children.
Proves an important point. Keep throwing money at a problem and guess what? Failure , end of story. The entire program initiated by Lyndon Johnson was a boondoggle. Keep giving stuff away and you get more of the failing results. This is why Zuckerberg like him or hate him just made billions. He is a business man not Santa Claus.
Indeed.
True That!
Yeah I dunno, I can’t remember the names of anyone who did philanthropy work but the names of technology inventors abound a plenty. People remember what they find useful or fun. Charity work only helps a select few and while society loves to give them a pat on the back for it they rarely do anything more. You want to help children and the poor start by telling the government to give them healthcare and food. Quite blaming the rich for what the rest of us are unwilling to do. Otherwise it’s just hypocrisy.
Spot on comment. I was one of those innocent people that stupid facistbook attacked by suspending my account without warning or sound rationale. There was no way to appeal even though they claim there is and after being on FB since 2005 without incident, I am unable to retrieve my data and content on my suspended account. Zuck sucks
It makes you wonder what a school founded and funded by Mark Z would be teaching. He controls thoughts and discussions by censorship so everything they teach would be controlled .
I quit farcebook in 2015. Way too many ignorant people with nothing to say.
But, to this day, I will bug the shit out of Zippy Zuckerpunk.
Every opportunity I find, I will leave a bad taste in the mouths of people like this two bit gamer.
Too much greed in the world ๐ Billionaires, millionaires and their lack of cares.
ใIt’s ZUCKERBERG responsibility. MEV
It may be a cliche, but I couldn’t have said it any better myself!
Since Zuckerberg & his wife established this school, & his wealth continues to grow at an incredible rate, the responsibility to sustain the school is Zuckerberg’s & his wife’s completely, 100%!
The millions of dollars required to keep the school operational are literally inconsequential – pennies on the dollar – in relation to Zuckerberg’s overall wealth, including the massive growth of that wealth in the past year!
Considering religious tithing is based upon a 10% system & it appears from previously stated figures that not even a billion dollars has been spent on the school thus far, once again, an inconsequential amount, supposedly to Zuckerberg & his wife, if their intentions are sincere to the underprivileged community!
Investing 1 billion dollars towards the good of this school to keep it operating & open for those to have the opportunity to pay it back with an education & career for the future, is barely more than 1% of Zuckerberg’s increased wealth of just the past 12 months, let alone his overall total wealth!
If Zuckerberg & his wife are truly sincere in their philanthropic efforts, providing a billion dollars to the school should be an automatic decision, without any considerations whatsoever!
(To reiterate, even a billion dollars in this scenario, are pennies on the dollar to Zuckerberg & his wife.)
My response was strictly about the continued funding of the school.
The other saliant points of the initial responder are also on point completely & 100% accurate – Meta’s unwarranted & inexcusable disabling of innocent accounts, as well as no 800 customer service & troubleshooting department with direct human interaction is another perfect example of Zuckerberg’s lack of sincerity regarding the customer experience, while that very customer experience continues to increase his wealth at their expense!
I deleted my facebook account years ago, if people did that would be a good start.
Thank you!
Spot on. It’s really sick that he would start this and then let down hundreds of kids and families when he definitely doesn’t even need that money.
So out of touch. The only good thing about the rest of us being poor is that it keeps us humble and empathetic and connected to others.. something the rich will never have.
Also this sounds like such a good project when Earth would he not be able to attract a few more donors? Seems absurd that the king of social connections couldn’t connect with others to support his own damn project. Something smells fishy
They are investing it in AI instead. They are thinking they won’t need an educated workforce in the future, they’ll have AI! You know, the magic machine that can spin straw into gold. Why continue to to fund us “useless eaters” on their dime?
It is sad that a multi billionaire cannot keep the school for poor kids open but he couple spend hundreds of millions in his more than one luxury yacht.
That is so unfortunate for us poor folks.
Cancel all the FB accounts and everything relates to this selfish billionaire!
.
Try TWO YACHTS for a slow trip to Antarctica?
Zippy thought he’d be mr. Cool taking both of his Diesel guzzlers down south, and making sure there was plenty of waste amd poison distributed in that fragile area.
He needs the money to pay for his new yacht
why? have you paid Meta for the service?
YES. WE ALL PAY WITH OUR PRIVATE DATA. WE TRAIN THEIR AI FOR FREE. Ever buy something thru FB? They profit.
These billionaires are disgusting examples of inhumanity. They dehumanize entire populations, pay for the genocide, and Im supposed to care about THEM?
He could’ve donated 1 Bil and still live for generations like a fat cat.
Billionaires are parasites.
Yep. Every time someone uses and AI “tool” the corporation receives free training for it. Using AI means free labor for them. Even better, people are PAYING for the privilege of doing the training.
Yes. Meta has made money from the harvested data. Selling the info to anyone at their discretion. And dont forget all the money made from the adds…
Your biggest concern is for yourself? He could continue to give something back by funding the school for less than a 1/4 percent of his wealth. He got that by selling our data and exploiting the greed, narcissism and lack of intellect. He can afford to give some back. Or at least pay his friggin taxes
Maybe he needs to be decommissioned, the Lord says place your worries at his feet. I place Zuckerberg at the Lords feet. Any man that can watch little children go hungry needs to be placed at the Lord’s feet.
Yeah because a disabled account is much more important than an education. Haha.
god, youre being sarcastic, right? literally none of what you said is important. an โinnocentโ individuals facebook account being deactivated bc theyre so fucking unintelligent that their digital footprint resembles a bot or fraudulent activity needs no oneโs attention. it is social media, a glorified bulletin board, it doesnt need customer service representatives for you to call with your non-problems
If you have $85 billion you mean to tell me you canโt fund the school regardless of whatever philanthropy or other support that is you canโt support the school with $85 billion surplus personal wealth that is very lame and no excuse at all
X/Twitter has this exact same issue!
Really.? That’s your comment about a school for poor kids. Get a life
A school for the poorest children is closing, and youโre fretting about your Facebook account?
Zuckerberg is a total disgrace all those Billionaires are total scum. $ 200 Billion $โs seriously he & his wife couldnโt spend it in a lifetime. If I had kind of money I would support any legitimate organization to help the poor, sick , children, ie: St Jude Hospital. Itโs the right thing to do , we only hv one Life
Every well said…
First of all, literacy matters for a person to succeed in life. His wealth came from the public believing in the product his company founded. Without the support of the general public and the world his wealth success will not be possible to achieve. I pushed myself to have education and without it I would have not achieved my dreams and aspirations. Just my two cents!
Zuckerberg’s mission was observed to support DEI initiatives and philosophy, so President Trump guided Zuckerberg to pull back from this philanthropic endeavor. Zuckerberg had backers and financial support; however, the social-political tide changed, and Zuckerberg was forced to yield.
Quite a spin you put on that to blame Trump๐คฆ๐ผโโ๏ธ.
but true. open your eyes
Itโs true to
Why not, thatโs what happens when you get in the bed with a convicted felon.
That sounds wild
He wasn’t force to yield. He choose to yield. If you really believe in something no one’s opposition or fraying opinion of it will keep you from yet believing in it. Mark Zuckerberg, like the rest, wanted in! So he submitted!
He chose to yeld
I disagree. Changing tides should not โforceโ philanthropy toward the latest trends; if the foundation made a commitment and established a mission for this school, I believe they have a moral obligation to see it through. Zuckerberg can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Forced? None of these 1%ters have a backbone. They’re selling the country down the toilet for market share!
he can have all those billions,he is and always will be a doppy looking twitty nerd.and at the end of the day he will probably die in a skiing accident, by the way,nice try on blaming Trump,_ ucking idiot.
FORCED TO YIELD? Yes, only if you have little backbone or principles – like Trump.
Nice. I don’t blame trump for Zuckerbergs greed. But I do blame him for just about everything else.
Principles, is something that Trump definitely does not have.
Billionaires are endangering humanity for their creed.
Greed, not creed.
I think that is their creed.
Is there a shred of proof that Trump guided him to do this? Perhaps, he started it and it didn’t get the community support he thought it would.
Well if we don’t count all of Trumps threats or his personal DOJ going after all of em if they don’t
Why does a centi-billionaire need community support? Billionaires put their money into personal priorities, obviously this wasn’t a personal proroty for him. I understand he has not one but two yachts that cost hundreds of millions dollars. How much of that could have supported his Primary school? “To whom much is given, much is required”. “Great power requires great responsibility”.
Do your own research!! Ha!
Interesting.
Is his money, not ours.
That’s what I thought; however, there are more than enough weathy people in this country to support education for children born into poverty.
More than enough people in poverty that shoild know not to have kids. But hey let’s blame people with money for not supporting other people’s kids.
Compared to most countries you are filthy rich are you funding any projects for them?
Where do you get this information? Where is there any evidence of such a statement?
That’s so stupid. You are an idiot just like mist of the commenters. Trunk has nothing to do with this. He’s busy getting shit done and not changing on his philanthropy. There are no intelligent comments today.
What? Getting shit done? If you call destroying the USA along with the other ultra rich getting things done then that is a terrible definition. Wealth is the issue. Low wages for most people and this even applies to the middle class.
Of course some fool would pull trump into this.
You libs know that everything in the world can’t be Trump’s fault, don’t you? TDS runs amuck! So sad
It is pretty obvious from Zucks censorship of FB, that he is a lieberal and would never follow any guidance from President Trump.
Zuck is a greedy billionaire that never learned how to give back to his community.
Many educational institutions started or thrived with a benefactor or bequest or foundation. Usually land or a permanent monetary foundation with income. When building a house you start with the foundations. An example University of Queensland. Read the book ” The Mayne Inheritance” So Mark Zuckerberg and his wife are naive, incompetent or what?
Looks like a a true case of trickle down economics is not Sustainable at best or doesn’t work at all, at worse.
Looks like you need to read up on what trickle down economics means because this is not it. I’m sure you heard that phrase and it’s your go to when your angry you don’t make enough $ but it’s not the catch all phrase you think it is
He never should have quit funding, that school was not expensive for him! He’s embarrassing me and the other wealthy people.
If he is embarrassing you as a wealth person, you can let him know that he has enough money to keep the school open and you join him too. So he wonโt be too arrogant to stop anytime since him and his wife are not alone.
Amen! But I’m not wealthy! ๐
You should take it over, as you put yourself in his category as “wealthy”. Even if you dont have his level of wealth, you sureky have an extra $100,000 laying around. Thats probably chump change to you. $100k could pay for a four year community college education for 3 or 4 inner city youths. Do it! Even if you are doing other charitabke things with your wealth, add one more.
100k won’t pay for most state colleges for 2 years. Man people are stupid in here.
Why dont you do it? Huge difference between billionaire and millionaire.
Nevermind that he’s actively hurting underpriveleged children (and our country’s future by extension), hes making the wealthy look bad! *eye roll*
Given that your statement directly implicates you as being one of the ultra-wealthy with enough resources to do actual good in the country, and since what used to be “wealthy” is now the ever-shrinking middle class and the only ones truly wealthy anymore are the ultra-rich blights on the world while the rest of us barely eke out survival, you should know it is shockingly unreal how out of touch all y’all are with issues facing poor people which, by the way, is most of the population of this country.
Open your eyes and ears. Read a book. You clearly have the education to be literate if you can word-vomit your arrogance on an article about a tragic loss to a community in great need, so maybe you can use the fortunes you’ve been blessed with in the life to buy yourself a clue.
He should’ve spent some of his billions keeping it open because it is the right thing to do, not because it makes the wealthy look better in a time when “Eat the Rich” is a half-tweet away from and (occasionally making it up to) being a trending hashtag frequently.
Comments like “he’s making us look bad” are what actually make you look bad. All it does is show us peasants you don’t actually care. It’s all for clout, tax write-offs, and other selfish gains. That’s not news to us. We already know it’s performative for you guys.
But it isn’t performative for those kids, is it? For them, it might very well be the difference between growing up literate or not.
The children losing a source of community support, probably lunches so also food support, and Healthcare is what’s really important here.
Losing sight of the real world impacts of Zukerberg’s school closing and focusing on how it makes wealthy people look is why the wealthy look bad.
It isnt about the wealthy. It will never be about the wealthy. It will only ever be about what resources we can squeeze out of the wealthy in order to put community programs in place to help alleviate the burdens working class America deals with so you wealthy people can go vacation for a whole summer in a yacht off the coast of Greece or some other such frivolousness.
Eat. The. Rich.
A couple things,
Thought I dont in principle disagree with your sentiment, Withholding help is not the same as actively hurting people.
Especially when public school is still available to these children. The burying the lead aspect of this is the idea that clearly everyone commenting (including you) believe public education is terrible or at minimum failing these children.
That raises the question……do you actively support and advocate for universal school choice to your elected officials?
If not, why not? If the sad story is that its a tragedy and children are being actively harmed that 1 billionaire is withdrawing funding for a school, than what the hell do we call generations of people provided with terrible educations with the billions and billions of dollars forcibly removed from poor and middle class people in the form of school taxes.
But maybe that’s an inconvenience conversation since it involves the unholy alliance between unions, elected officials, and public funds…..Just way easier to be mad at 1 billionaire for not continuing to do what we already pay the government to do
done being self righteous? couldn’t read it all the way through….real “word vomit” there. You realize that guy prob isn’t rich at all.
Yea because you canโt take it with you.
Broken promise while his fortune is up .
Two three luxury yachts and 200 billions net worth are not enough for the poor kids school.So So contradicted!!
So you pick up the bill.
So here is the thing, you do something nice and you can never stop, ever or your the worst person ever. It’s actually better for his image if he had never started it. Let that sink in.
We know these ultra wealthy hate to pay a liveable wage, once the robot workforce has finished being built, they won’t have to. However, when the poor have morning left to eat, they shall eat the rich.
If the rich donโt help these important initiatives, it becomes a sad state of affairs. They become wealthier at the cost of people who supported their products. They need to keep giving back to society and these initiatives, or pay mandatory taxes that will help the same cause with help of community and government
Ahh yes the cry of the poor. Here is the thing, the poor in the US are the most part lazy which is why they are poor. And our poor are not like actual poor people. Our poor have access to food, shelter, phones, money where other countries poor die in the streets. Our poor are not going to bite the hand that feeds them because they know SOMEONE has to actually work and they don’t want to do any
Ahh yes, the cry of the superior ones…who believe that everyone who is homeless put themselves there, everyone poor is lazy, and all have easy access to food, shelter, phones. Keep dreaming Linda, until you or a loved one experiences a tragedy that upends your existence. And then hope that others have more compassion than you.
Just remember some of us poor people aren’t lazy, own guns, know where you rich people live and most importantly – the schools and daycares your children attend. If we need some fast cash nothing works quicker than a “mommy!!??? Please save me!!!!” call ๐ leave the $ at the designated drop spot and if you call the police your getting your precious ones ring finger via usps.
Talk to Trump to release off all causes of musk’s depreciation…. He can fund it instead ๐
He didn’t major pivot refocusing his money to technology. That’s good and all but the money he was putting in the school was funding potential future techies. American schools already behind some schools of other nations, guess one more wouldn’t hurt.
I would wish the Billionairs would help mote and feel a moral obligation,however I live in The United State of America. Billionairs are free to do as they wish with their money.
I would hope so! You are also free to spend your money as you wish.
You know billionaires don’t have thst in cash right? It’s in company stock, the more they sell the more it damages the company the lower the stock goes the worse the company gets. You don’t have those same issues so open up that wallet and go fund a school
You think he paid for those yachts with stock, not cash? How about his homes? Jets? Honey, he’s got plenty of real money. And lots of other assets, as well as “paper money”. Funny how share buybacks increases the price of stock, even though those shares have been pulled. Makes ya go hmmmm, hmmmm?
I meant, he did a major pivot…
It wasn’t a pivot. He was finally free of Biden Administration’s threats. You did hear him testify about their threats and coercion, right?
And you sit there and ignore what Trumps doing everyday threatening somebody.
Not one bit of information in the story on whether goals, benchmarks, or academic success post attendance was talked about. That was telling
True, but we know with Trump in office he and his billionaire buddies are taking over. Go read Stalins handbook on how to take over a country, Project 25 is practically a carbon copy
The top tax bracket when Eisenhower was president was 91% and when he left it was 90%.
The rich keep their money and donโt pay their fair share even after they die ( Estate Tax limit is sky high and avoidable). The ongoing policies move us toward a frightening future.
No one paid 90 percent tho. *No one*.
Esrate tax is criminal! II am working hard for my entire life, and Im taxed on all of my earnings just as you are. But I want life to be easier fkr my daughter, so I put $10,000 a year into stocks for her. It is currentky worth $550,000. If I die tomorrow, why should she be taxed on that money? I alreasy paid taxes on it when i earned it.
Estate taxes have a very high limit for a reason: Because its criminal to double tax people!
She won’t be if you put it right.
Agree. You should not be taxed on the money you paid taxes on that was originally invested. However you do not want her to pay taxes on the growth of that investment when that money gets transferred to her. That i do not agree. Tax free incoming growth money never worked for. Free money to her means she can afford to pay the 20-30% of the postponed growth money she has incoming to her. Use is to pay the tax and leave it to continue growing tax free until the next nepo chile takes over and pays the 20-30% of the new growth
Maybe spend a little of that on an accountant, a tax advisor and spell check then she won’t pay taxes and maybe we will believe your stort a little. 550k, you either put it in for 18 years and she’s 50 now, you lying or your so good at picking stocks you should never worry about money.
I’m sorry, did you just recommend spell-check to someone and then type this out? For real? *Story, not stort. And it’s you’re, not your. As in, a contraction for “you are.” Your is possessive…and I won’t even get started on your punctuation. Smh.
12 Albuquerque Public Schools have teaching, health care, and social support under one roof. NM is one of the poorest states. Why does CA need philanthropically-funded schools for this?
Menlo Park did NOT ask this clown to come there and do what they did ok. Don’t blame CA cos these two tried to get rid of their guilt trip on all the things they did to not only drive up the cost of living, but also to run around sticking their names on everything yet doing nothing. You think they are so great, then invite them to NM and you deal with the consequences
Tps is in EPA. It was his wife Priscilla’s project. The school engine came in and exploited the families, children and community. They infiltrated the hopes and dreams of these families and made big promises to gain their trust. They made a contract with the these families to provid. improved health, education and community supports until their child turned 18 and graduated from school. The betrayal of trust and the experiment that ripped money from the district Schools and other services cannot be overlooked. Priscilla honor your contract and promises to these families. Do not enroll more families, but close after each child has graduated from high school. You went into a vulnerable community and exploited their most valuable resource. The damage you have done to their trust and autonomy in this community cannot be overlooked and you do not get a pass to pull out of your commitment. Karma
A bunch of white people with a savior complex that can’t extend from their own pockets unless it helps their HOA
I’ve read that the academics was failing and Chan was frustrated. They can throw all the money they have at the school but if they aren’t producing results, what’s the point? Disadvantaged the kids may have been, the money didn’t help their academics. It’s just a daycare for the underprivileged.
So basically a bunch of stupid people that would benefit from Midwestern manufacturing. No offense at all, I use it as a lack of education. I’m blue collar and I definitely get above the 86k needed to be single and comfortable where I live
Kids who grow up in poverty need an opportunity to “catch up” with those who had people to read to them and help them with early literacy and numeracy. It takes time to “produce” results. It’s not that the kids don’t have the ability, but they need more than a few years to fill in the gaps. If you are already 5 years behind at grade 1, don’t expect the situation to miraculously improve in 5 years – remember those in the upper income families have continued to progress over the same time. The impact of poverty on children’s learning contributes to long term problems including mental health and legal issues. Give the program time to prove it can work before you throw it away.
When study after study shows the #1 driving factor is parent involvement and expectations.
You can’t pay parents to care about their kids
“Heโs a billionaire. Why would he close a school for poor kids”
Because his philosophy now aligns with the Trump Administration.
Grow up. The man can think for himself. Oh, except under Biden where he testified being threatened and coerced to do the Administration’s bidding
He can, but those tax breaks must have been very appealing. Poor Mark felt threatened, well so does everybody in this country that isn’t white
Why? Because it was in a neighborhood which is beautiful but primarily black and Hispanic but which has been there for years. Families have been there in their homes for decades, multiple generations. He did it for that very reason, BECAUSE its primarily black and Hispanics and they figured no one will care
Then why did he open it
First sentence answers the second.
The dumb culture is not making academic advancement
The Billionaire don’t give a damn about the poor or the disadvantage. That organization was for show. Just because he gave a few million, how much tax breaks did he put on his tax return. Just remember when it is time to vote again, maybe we can get the department of education back up and running
This sounds right! I think it was for show as well!
Why would we want to get the department of education back the way it was? We were wasting money and students were lagging.
Ok, well one point we have a woman who along with her husband are being investigated for grooming young boys at WWF and she’s running education dept. for children?? Give me a break. Couldn’t he find another Fox host
Why can’t CZ be like Bates and Buffet and the other whole-hearted philantropists?
Billionaires’ assets should be seized and distributed for the common good. No one, no where, ever earned a billion dollars on their own merit. Round up the billionaires and take their assets now.
Anyone, becomes everyone, when even one simple investment is created. So, therefore, every retirement fund must become eliminated, for confiscation?
The merits, of the financial elite. fund every fundamental investment strategy from individual stock options to retirement pension funds, 401k, and those IRA’s. Knowledge through understanding
Whoa, there Trotskyโฆslow down!!! This is America. Take that crap elsewhere! You think youโre on to something great? However, you say just the billionaires but when it turns into Anyone with more than enoughโฆand โtheyโ decide how much that is, then ALL your hard earned cash gets confiscated!
Hold on there now! That might sound good to you now but then you evidently have no interest in becoming a billionaire. However if your wish comes true, those in power may change the rules and it wonโt be just billionaires who assets are seizedโฆbut any savings above whatever amount they set and lo and behold your money gets taken away too! Be careful what you wish for, buddy!
Until the powers that be decide to set the bar lower and suddenly itโs aimed at your/my small savings account. Be careful what you wish for. This is why weโre free in America to be rich or poorโฆyour choice!
Move to the Soviet Union! Your comment is pathetic.
I have difficulty in understanding why it is not โMandatoryโ โฆthat they pay their taxes. This is where the problem rests.
The top 10% of income earners pay something like 70% of income taxes. The bottom 50% pay nothing. If government needs to blow more money, start paying the deficit with a national sales tax. Let the “underachivers” pick up thee difference. Then maybe enough people will get pissed off and vote on fiscally responsible government.
Agreed. Except the billionaires are way more able to afford protection for themselves and their money.
Iโm not upset about wealth, Iโm upset that most wealthy choose not to help the less fortunate. I donโt know any billionaires personally but I bet Gates and Buffetโs character makes Bezoโs and Zuckerbergโs look poorer than me. And Iโm poor.
Like a previous poster mentioned wouldnโt it be nice if Zuckerberg went skiingโฆโฆ
Time for an overhaul from the teacher lectures from the front of the room learning model.
Time to give respect to different career paths including blue collar opportunities.
Time to stop graduating students with no practical skills in life such as how to manage finances, think logically.
Time for the Teacher’s Unions to reward good performance and stop whining about low salaries and classroom sizes.
Use technology to help teach.
Provide an approach that will stimulate and excite students and provide real-life skills.
You nailed Paul!! I think youre ๐ฏ% correcto. There’s tons of data that supports school systems graduating seniors who cant read, or write….and tgis has been going on for way too long. College professors quiting because students cant read one book. 1book!!
Absolutely!
Im a public school teacher, and I approve this statement 100%
Finally!!!! Someone with workable and intelligent answers on how to accomplish answers for the larger percentage of the human being that have been ignored for so long!! The greedy parts of the one percents need to be incarcerated into poor families homes and lives to experience what families experience!! The love and kindness could guide the ultra rich people to understand what love they have been missing, and they could see why this whole world of people need to work together!! I know that there has been so many who have turned to theft, drugs, and killing, but they’re another part of our society that needs to be given other options as well.
Mark should be ashamed of himself. How much much money does he need that he can’t help out? I hope his AI fails. And he is really ugly looking as well!!!!
This is disgusting! How can Mark and his wife allow a school for poor children that they started close due to financial problems and his wealth increased by 85 billion dollars in one year. He is worth over 200 billion dollars. They can fund the school totally!!
What do I think? The Bay Area is my home. Redwood City, Menlo Park and Palo Alto is my home. I don’t want him or his wife in my town, city or state. They can get out and take Musk with them. They bought the police (literally there is a MP officer paid by FB patrolling MP), they ruined a whole neighborhood claiming they are helping. MP WAS a town that was beautiful and whose families (yes mostly black and Hispanics) have been there for generations. Now its gotten too expensive cos this clown and his clown wife wanted to pay workers rent (which went up to damn near $5000 a month because of them) then they talk crap,run to Trump and claim “oh Cali and Newsom are bad, we’re moving to Texas”, so GO ! Why are you still talking? Oh BTW don’t be surprised if you and your wife and kids who are mixed, don’t get the warm welcome you think you deserve in Texas, little orphan Zuckerberg
In a word: shameful.
Wow, they go a donate 100 million dollars and then people complain why they wouldn’t donate more? It is their money, they get to do with it wh as t they want. If the school isn’t succeeding then why wouldn’t they try something else?
Besides this the question of stability is really strange to me. If they got 100 million why were they not put in S&P or even bonds and the school is funded with interest? No stability issues then…
One wonders if this was just a tax break thing for Zuckerborg. He has shown no sign he’s even aware it existed, let alone done the right thing and continued to support it. If the school was a child and he was a parent, he’d be a very neglectful parent
It’s a shame how some have it and some don’t. Personally I despise the wealthy. Sorry not sorry. Greed and corruption is where it’s at.
I wish that everyone lived comfortable, that the wealth is shared across the board.
Is Sharazad right that CZ was pushed by Trump to close the school? Is James right that the school was a failure academically? How much money does the school need each year? Without this sort of information it’s hard to evaluate options.
A foundational principle for first-time philanthropists should be sustainable, progressive development rather than a singular ‘hit sensation.’ The aim should be to empower beneficiaries to become future philanthropists themselves, continuing the legacy within the project that shaped them. A significant hurdle lies in addressing the dependency and entitlement often associated with impoverished communities.
Well said!
It shows what kind of person he is….after all, he stole Facebook, so why wouldn’t you think he was capable of another theft….the theft of the children’s education and the theft of their lives and their “hope”. He is disgusting and deplorable….GREED, GREED at it’s worst……It sounds just like Mark Zuckerberg
First of all – it’s his money and he worked hard to get it. Now, he can do what he pleases with it.
Second – he invested $100 million in a school. The project lasted 6 years. And everyone is unhappy!
Noone said : thank you for what you did. You didn’t need to but you helped many poor kids. It is not his duty. Noone as a right to demand more. It is his good will. That’s it!
Reminds me when Trump said tariffs would mean a child might receive one less doll on Christmas- another Scrooge in the upper class -and not a morally appealing decision. Heโs following a coward administration and fool. I would have expected more given his privilege and as he obtained all of it on the backs of others. Being morally principled is an attractive trait. He could have done more to help the viability of the school. There are solutions but heโs not interested. Just a new ugly to show off.
No one is going to care about Mark Zuckerberg opening a school for poor students. They will definitely remember that he’s a billionaire and let it close due to financial problems. Sounds like it was for show.
Thank you Mr and Mrs Zuckerberg for the 6 years and ( $100,000,000)
investment in your community.
I hope youโll be able to do many great things on behalf of childrenโs education and other worthy causes in the future!
A one time $100M gift is bound to fail long term. Instead fund a $100M endowment, properly invested will provide $5M / year (plus indexing for inflation FOREVER)!
Many Americans that are struggling in America isn’t because they were born into poverty, just take a look back at the past 30 years: Post Wars of the late 80’s into the 90’s, The dot-com bubble & burst, 9/11, The Housing Crisis and Bank nonsense of 2008, New Administrations, the new Wars, Covid, Ai takeover..and now the Billionaire Power struggle. What a hot mess we have evolved into. All we need are UFO landings. I’d go with them. Life in another Galaxy, another realm…amongst a different species sounds…pretty….pretty…pretty darn good right about now.
Why wonโt this site accept any anti-socialist comments? Three times Iโve tried to post MY opinion and three times Iโve been blocked!
What he started should continue Itโs a damn shame to hurt the poor kids. You donโt start something & back out especially when you have so much to give
Donors supposed to pay their shares as tax imposed by the government in a mount and manner that serves the public with fair wealth sharing.
Tax cuts for the rich and billionaires is just quite wrong and ill advised, will result in undermining the public services and itโs infrastructure.
Agree! Luckily I now live in Asia,so after having lived in Europe, USA and Asia and with a keen interest in social equality, I know that something is seriously wrong in America. A total lack of balance , empathy, historical perspective . With all the chaos and mostly with public and governmental support, the bottom is slowly falling out. Us the people are also responsible.
I have little income, but with under 1500 dollars I support myself totally and over the last few years have given an education to at least 32 children.
I donโt understand why people are so surprised! ๐ฎ Since when have the rich and now Ultra Rich given and ๐ฉ about the 99% of Us that helped build their wealth. Until โWeโ the 99% stop buy, using, or building โtheirโ 1% of the entire worldโs wealth NOTHING WILL CHANGE! Keeping the 99% of the world illiterate, broke and fed a narrative that only benefits them is how they control. Divide and conquer is their strategy. If We unite, nothing can stop us.
You canโt even leave an honest comment on this site because they first must โmoderateโ it!
Controlling the narrative! I took a screen shot to back up what Iโm saying. Unfortunately, this site will not allow the upload. What happened to Free Speech?
โ what does a profit man gains the whole world yet loses his soul?โ – Jesus Christ
How many students were enrolled? How can they burn thru that much money in such a short time? Was it just a scam for a write off? No way a small school should have burned thru that much money. Heck, if they had invested the initial funding into an endowment, the school should have been kept afloat off of the interest. Where did the money go? That’s the real story
Mark Zuckerberg is a billionaire. Why can’t he fund the school all by himself? I’ll tell you why. Because his real interest is to make more money like he’s been doing, and that’s why he puts his money ๐ฐ into tech, science, etc. Advancements in the world. If he really cared about poor people he’d pay for everything himself. But, he doesn’t. Actions speak louder than words. ๐ค
Billionaires just got a an advantage from โthe big beautiful billโ and they still donโt get that people are going to suffer and middle class families are going to be forced to pay more taxes. How much is enough? What can you do with all that money? Canโt you just help others?
This is a multi-faceted issue and in my opinion everyone’s fault, but least of all Mark and Priscilla – though they did play a factor. 1st Any organization that is not a For-profit company must understand business and it’s metrics to provide reportable growth and reduced cost; thereby indicating fiscal responsibility and better efficiencies to perform their intended goal. 2nd Any organization with a mission should be hyper-vigilant of abuse or fraud within its own organization because that harms the organization more than a For Profit companies, especially if it relies heavily on donations as is the case typically in the beginning. 3rd No company or organization should ever rely too heavily on any one source of income -even a For-profit business. Even For-profit businesses go under constantly by relying too heavily on one customer as is often reflected in B2B cases. 4th Ultra large donors should never allow organizations access to the use of money directly ever. Instead they should setup investment structures with guaranteed returns and allow the organization access to the ever-increasing returns based on oversight, metrics, and growing need. Diversifying when the need is greater elsewhere. Thanks Rockefellers. 5th Outlash by the media and members of the impoverished community when wealthy and ultr-wealthy individuals make fiscally responsible or forward-thinking decisions should not be met with condemnation, but rather with a humble curiousity. Keep the centibillionaires who gave your organization $100 Million dollars in the first place as an ally opposed to immediately ostracizing and vilifying them. Ask why were they willing to give $100M before but not now? What changed? Where is their money going now? Had you not torched the bridge you came on you could ask Mark, Priscilla we see you are heavily investing in AI, how could we use AI to help improve our organization and maybe gain back funding that we so desperately need? The best part of all of this is each of us makes mistakes everyday and we have the wonderful opportunity to try and do better tomorrow myself included! Kindly, T. Allen Brown
I suspect that support was lacking BECAUSE the main donor is so rich. Is he the only one that should see it as a worthy investment?
The comment that, โHeโs a billionaire. Why would he close a school for poor kids?โ is probably the mindset of people why they hold back their own support.
Social entrepreneurial projects must include the support of others that find it beneficial.
As the school is so important, it deserves collective support from multiple parties, including government, not just solely relying on one single donor.
If you wonder why a billionaire would close a school for our just read these comments. The article explains it well to me. Ungrateful people who always expect more and are never happy. Pathetic moochers forever entitled to asking for more and complaining no matter how much you do for them is what these people sound like. No one is entitled to the work of others
Not to mention the millions of people who never contributed a dime to this experiment getting no blame at all. Attacking those who do something right while letting everyone else off scott free is pretty typical.
I’m going to guess you grew up in a middle class area, decent schools, and opportunity for a future.
Everyone deserves a chance. I suppose you believe these “moochers” sit around and do nothing. Even if working at $15 hr, people can’t get a home. Work 2 jobs? Nope. SNAP and Medicaid? Denied if you have a car.
$87,000 a year vs $7,200. Isn’t Greed one of the deadly sins? Oh yeah. “Don’t commit the sin of empathy.” That’s messed up.
I can’t understand the way some people think.
Full agreement!
What ever happened to self reliance? Everyone wants to blame someone for their own failures. Zuckerberg donated 100s of millions to this program that wasn’t successful. The writer it trying to shape your opinion instead of reporting the actual facts. I was not aware Zuckerberg was responsible for educating our kids. Maybe California public schools should have that responsibility. I was under the assumption that is why we pay all these taxes.
This is why billionaires need to pay taxes. Philanthropy is great, but it’s not a reliable way to build a society.
There’s a good old fashioned way of making rich people pool their money.
Some of you may not be familiar with it but it’s called taxes.
I say let the rich help pay for the poor and stop buying the politicians that they’ve been buying. Yay taxes!
The suggestion that means of production be liquidated for charitable purposes seems to be a daily occurrence in capitalist countries, where it is privately owned. I wonder if socialist governments ever got the same criticism.
Philanthropy is designed to help, not sustain. It is not just billionaires that are the only folks who can do this type of work. Donate at every level and see the benefit in your own taxes. Just 10% of your income can change lives of many.
Bottom line: we are all responsible for our community engagement. And if we all did it, at whatever amount we can do, it is amazing how we will all rise. That is sustaining.
He gave the start up funds and sustained the school since the opening. It’s not his responsibility to keep it running. Californians need to step up for their own community.
This is why there needs to be progressive taxation. No one person should possess such wealth at the expense of so many others.
T Allen Brown said it all so eloquently.
This is a multifaceted problem. The first thing I thought was what changed? If the school was not working out, the people who help set it up, will never criticize publicly what wasnโt working.
But too many of the people who posted comments were demonizing people, throwing the blame elsewhere and then bringing politics into it, does nothing but make people defensive. Nothing gets resolved. Nothing is built for the future.itโs nothing more than pointing fingers and it gets nobody anywhere. Especially the ones that the school was intended to help.
I just really wish people would stop this constant barrage of hate and calling people names. This isnโt the elementary playground.
TAX the greedy billionaires and the country can afford to run it’s own schools. It’s not rocket science.
In 2022 school districts in the United States spent a little under 860 billion dollars on public
4k-12 education.
The problem isn’t the wealthy, the problem is the absolutely atrocious return on our investment as tax payers.
In this case shouldn’t our response be……hmm, that sicks czi ended funding for that school…..oh well, guess those kids can just go back to their good public school. Instead its …..oh my god what a horrible human being he is pulling funding and destroying these children’s future by sending them back to public school.
And dont mistake this as a defense of him. Just that with the money we spend on public education in the wealthiest country in the history of our species we shouldn’t be in the position to require any private individual to fund schools
I work in the public schools where the Primary School is located. This isn’t about money. 2 issues:
1. CZI wanted to back away from anything that looked like DEI. EAST Palo Alto is a different city, different county, different world from Palo Alto where Zuckerberg lives. EPA schools are about 70% Latinx. The rest is Polynesian and Black.
2. Teacher shortage because teacher salaries aren’t enough to live nearby. So students at Primary School were not getting good instruction, so doing worse than students in local public schools. And local schools have improved greatly over the last 8 years with new leadership and generous donations from many, many wealthy people.
Yes, it was nice to have medical services on campus, but there are other clinics in town. The whole city is only about 4 Sq miles.
Just my opinion, I think itโs absolutely disgusting. MZ would not be where he is today, without our support and contributions to his wealth, UNDER FALSE PRETENSES, LIES AND COERCION!!!!!!!! The ultra rich have BECOME NASTY, MEAN, AND GREEDY at our expense. I was raised in poverty and am a single mother with a terminal illness. The government paid for my schooling to help me become self sufficient, providing a better life for my 2 teens until my disease gets the best of me due to not being able to afford a transplant. Poverty is not a choice for these children and for MZ to again, MISLEAD FAMILIES and is sickening. He needs to pay back every cent to all his supporters and then see where he is! Iโll be streaming with my popcorn and Pepsi, his lifestyle as a โpeasantโ. ๐ฅค๐ฟ
I don’t care who you are…the world owes you nothing. The since of entitlement from people that little if anything to better themselves seems to be the status quo. Can’t say I blame him for pulling out….the fatigue is real.
$85 billion is on paper. Even Musk had to get a $220,000 loan. On the other hand, how much does it cost to fund one school? $1 billion? One doesn’t help for profit. You help because you can make a difference.
I don’t think a majority of the upper middle to rich class have any idea what it means to be poor. Dirt poor. The kids have no hope of getting out of the cycle no matter how good they are. “In the Ghetto” applied in the 50’s. It has not changed.
Along comes hope for a good primary education. This one now gone. Things like a free ride to Harvard. A chance to get out. (Based on income and academics). Poof. Gone.
Why do people want to dumb down the poor? What are they afraid of? (Core math, no cursive, calculators). I’ve had store clerks panic if the register is not yelling them the change. Collage students.
Beware: AI is going to replace white collar jobs soon. Whatcha going to do when it comes for you? Pick orange:s?
I ever get that rich, Im going to find a way to help.
Retired IT professional.
I just want to point out that the annual operating budget for this school was a little under 13 million a year. If Zuckerberg actually cared he could fund it for 77 years with 1.2% of the money he made this year alone.
I want to put this into perspective.
If you make 80,000 a year and you could fund a school for almost 8 decades for 960 bucks would you say no?
Would you say no when funding that school for a year cost 12.50?
Billionaires are evil. Full stop.
Children are our future. We need to have people that have the financial means use some of their money wisely. Throwing your money at Ai and other Grand things is fine but you have to do that in addition to helping the children to do anything less is evil. While you’re raking in the money these children need an opportunity that you’re taking away from them. How are you going to look God in the Holiness of his countenance and explain why you didn’t help these children when you could. Why would you take the funding away from them you didn’t take just the funding you took away their dream their hopes and maybe their future.
Zuck was in DC with other billionaires sucking up to Trump during the inauguration. He bought a house there and he clearly wants access to Trump. Trump threatened to jail him if he was elected. Zuckerberg clearly was shaken. He wanted to show he was on board with trump. He dumped DEI, the school was floundering and a sign of liberal kindness and openness towards helping disadvantaged kids to thrive educationally. That is not a good fit for trumpian America. By turning his back Zuckerberg sent a signal he was all in with this new right-wing shift. If you are fair,kind and uplifting Trump could jail you. He may use his justice department to find ways to steal your wealth. Putin did with the Russian Oligarchs. Zuck wants in the new game and he was frightened by Trump’s hatred of him. Plus, you can buy a lot of fuel for his toys with money he donated to the school.
I applaud the Gates foundation. They did great work. Yet the right wing slime continuously attacked Gates over his vaccine policies. In the end in America today is a sad, sick place. Until we throttle the right wing media and these cowardly anti democratic leaders you will see less people attempt to HELP to promote equality, equity and inclusion, good health, kindness and humanity.sg
Try basing it like, anywhere beside California and tey it again. Cali is certainly not a good test bed for any entity which competes against public schools and their unions for funding.
Like Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Ford, Gates, Buffet, and others I’m sure Zuckerberg, Musk, Bezos, and Ellison, will follow in their image and become great philanthropists once they have retired from their careers.
That is how wealth flows.
It’s his money, he can spend it any damn way he chooses.
One question that it appears has been avoided is did the the school produce any results? If the kids are still failing what is the point of throwing this excessive amount of money at it?
Delving into the comments, I see a lot of observations, thoughts and feelings expressed but not so much in the way of anecdotal reports of what was going on in the school, and between Chan and Zuckerberg, that could explain why the couple made the decision to cease funding for the school.
I’m fairly sure that news reporting on that choice is out there, available for us to use in making our perhaps more knowledgeable and relevant statements of opinion.
IMO, The educational system is what needs an overhaul here. Why should an individual fund entire schools, no matter how rich they are? Seems it would be more sustainable for them to fund special programs within the school system. ie. Early education Tech programs, which would probably keep their interest long term.
Switching gears to support AI instead? This tells me he was more interested in the optics of supporting poor kids instead of actually helping them. And with $200B, why is this a one or the other situation?
I think he should keep working on what he started with the school. He canโt take all that money with him! Why have so much and not do good things with it instead of being greedy and spreading some here and some there? He should finish what he started and see that the school becomes secure and fiscally stable, not quit and go on with other projects.
Maybe these big donors should think about long term sustainability before starting something that the recipient grows to depend on and then it disappears. Some of the interest on his fortune could easily cover the operating expenses of this project . He wouldnโt even miss it.
Maybe you guys should be grateful that he used”his” money for this project. The government sure as hell didn’t.
What’s God got to do with anything? It’s a purely mythical entity which needs to be killed off once and for all. If there was such a thing as this God, surely it would tell Mark Zuckerberg to spend it on the the kids. There isn’t, and it doesn’t.๐ค
It’s unfortunate that most people have never worked in a school. We are under the impression that money makes a good school. A dedicated principal and caring teachers make good schools. What we have now are people who just want to put in their time and retire. A good teacher can make up for a lack of money, but all the money in the world won’t make up for a lazy, incompetent teacher. Teaching is a calling. Not everyone is called.
Should b a no-brainer. Set up a foundation that is big enough to perpetual fund the school. AN ENDOWMENT
In order to harvest a successful crop, a farmer plants the seed.
After that, success depends upon:
1. Sunshine
2. Copious amounts of water.
3. Constant fertilization.
4. Deadheading the non productive buds
5. cultivation of the beds
6. Weeding out the bad
It seems to me that there are many more things that need to be done well beyond the initial planting of the seed. The same thing applies here in this analogy where Zuckerberg has planted the seed but the community has failed miserably at doing their part.
Regardless one’s wealth, it is not incumbent on them to be the sole lifting agent to pull up those that are capable of pulling themselves up.
Likewise, it is not the government’s job to bail out failed initiatives when there is a demonstrated lack of willingness for the recipients to stand tall and strive for success.
He spent too much on his Compound on Kauai!
It’s his choice, he have millions previously. It’s his choice .
Who are you/ wevtonsaybits wrong?
In end some very wealthy people give lil to nothing.
The comments blaming Zuckerberg or even Trump for some reason are incredibly asinine. Zuckerberg put in $100 million dollars & the school failed to receive any other support either internally or externally so for those of you need to blame someone it would seem the blame lays with the school itself & it’s administration. Maybe paying Jean-Claude Brizard a salary of almost $350k a year to run the school wasn’t a wise investment. I’d imagine Brizard is pretty liberal so I doubt those placing blame on Zuckerberg & Trump would find any fault in Brizard since everything is the big bad Republicans fault even when they have nothing to do with it. ๐คฆโโ๏ธ Ignorance truly is bliss I suppose. God, some of you are incredibly R-worded.
Zuckerberg doesn’t give a damn about anything other than making a profit or getting a tax break from his so-called, self serving philanthropic efforts. He certainly has made more than 100 billion dollars, at the expense of all the children he refused to set up compensation for at the judiciary hearing a while back. Obviously he doesn’t give a damn about children and the school is just another example. Maybe Meta has been a success, but Zuckerberg is a failure as a human being.
He can afford to keep supporting the school, it’s a tax break for Him, maybe he’ll lose it all and the message he gets due to the loss will be related to education
If it was really philanthropy and good intentions, he’d happily fund that school all by himself forever with anything and everything they needed. Obviously that’s not what he was ever after. Billionaires only do charity work for headlines and tax breaks. They don’t care about anyone but themselves and you can take that to the bank! Cause you won’t be taking any checks from Zuck there!
Coming from Europe 15 years ago, I have been very surprised to learn to what extend schools and other institutions which I consider core public services are funded by private charity, rather than public funds. This story illustrates that even well meaning philanthropists do not have the long term skin in the game, as the public does.
In my opinion, is it unwise for a country to not properly invest in its youth, by ensuring that every kid gets an education appropriate to their needs and the public good, through public funds (that is, taxes).
Take the school out of Cali. No NY either. Between overhead, cost of living & probably thievery or fraud/corruption, schools in those states & many other Blue states with or in big cities, is asking for failure.
Lots of comments. Ego, politics, class and culture warfare, economic disparity, etc. etc. But no math!
What about some math and common sense? CZ has hundreds of billions. CZ was ready/willing to donate $100 million to what seems to be a good project. Who cares about his motives–it doesn’t make the money worth less and it doesn’t affect whatever outcome value the project may have.
So assuming CZ is ready/willing to give away $100 million, what if we changed the math and the time frame? Rather than giving away $100 million one time, why not take $2 billion (1% of CZ’s net worth) and invest it? Even an insignificant investor like me should be able to achieve a 5% return. That comes to (you guessed it) $100 million. PER YEAR. Year after year. Sure, CZ will lose out on the time value of his $$ but the end of the day he’ll still have his $2 billion.
As I write this though, I realized that CZ probably has a small army of investment advisors, accountants, lawyers–the best money can buy. Am I the first and only person to figure out that using proceeds from an investment to start/support the project is better in the long run than a 1-time donation? Certainly not. Why, then, why was this entirely doable approach not taken?
It hits me that math isn’t the answer–and was never meant to be. Leaving me to conclude that a sustainable project was not the goal. So what, then, was the reason to pursue the project in the first place? Rats, now motives are relevant. That realization inexorably takes me right back to the ego, politics, class and culture warfare, economic disparity, etc. I was trying to avoid. Sigh….
He’s obviously got the money, so he should keep funding it!
You’re telling me that this school isn’t a huge tax write-off for him? That in itself should make him keep it going!
After reading all these comments, it shows its a lose lose situation. People expect billionaires to do everything with their money to fund the poor and continue to fund the poor forever. That is crazy when the school is in a state where all the millionaires and billionaires reside, yet yall want two people to continue to fund a school for eternity. The school wasn’t a success, get over it and move on. Parents need to start being more involved in their children’s education then we wouldn’t have so many children who are falling behind. Teaching starts at home from birth, parents need to step up more, PERIOD. He was probably pressured into starting the school anyways. Good for him, invest in what you want to invest in, not what ungrateful people want you to invest in. The school could’ve been opened for 20 years and people would still be complaining. It’s HIS money, he can do what he want with it just like all yall complaining probably wouldn’t donate one dollar to keep the school running. I bet no other rich person will step up and invest money to keep the school operational at all lmao clowns.
While it is true that the man is a billionaire, I think they are being unreasonable by expecting him to continue supporting them after they blew $100 million in only six years.
I would not give them one more penny. Theyโre nuts.
That money should have lasted way longer than that.
we all know what happens with charitable donations.
90% of the money goes towards salaries, and the other 10% goes to the actual cause, and I think thatโs whatโs going on here.
Look at it logically, if he wanted to help underprivileged children he would. They’re just not on his radar anymore. The amount of money it would take is so small compared to his total wealth that if wasn’t for his overpowering greed he would never miss it. Unlimited money does not make you a better person.
I believe in Capitalism but with checks and balances. The billionaires and millionaires in the entire world have increased at the expense of the middle class. ( check the figures). The wealthy does not pay taxes for the most part. They have tax havens and shell companies to hide their wealth managed by the financial advisors, tax accountants and tax attorneys they can afford to pay. We must END these excesses and balance the social classes and also end the infiltration of the radical left that is creating chaos in our country.
Some of you are just not good people. A failing model is a failing model, put the money towards something else. The staff was paid fair, but not exorbitant amounts (you can look up their 990 and see that). Focus on doing good with what you have and pull back on the hate.
Zuckerberg and other billionaires should treat philanthropic projects with the same care for sustainability as they treat their businesses.
The way the financial structure for the school was set up inevitably led to its demise.
Zuckerberg could easily have given the school an endowment large enough from which the operating budget could have been paid in perpetuity.
Instead of $100 million, how about $500 million invested in a manner that would ensure sustainability?! Then the school would have been sustainable.
This is interesting. Maybe 11 yrs ago i was involved in a school overseas. They had started a kindergarten and they needed 2000 dollars a year to maintain paying teachers salaries. I made that commitment. I am not a millionaire or billionaire but i took ownership and plan to meet my commitment. Should i think that this school should raise revenue? Maybe but they are poor. We who are in positions of privledge judge poor people that way. They should do this or do that. I cant control what they do only what i can do. What this comes down to is if you can help someone shouldnt you? Do what you can do. So would it be nice if Z rained more wealth down? Yes it would be laudable but its not mandatory. But we should stop asking what he should do and ask what we as individuals can do. If you dont like Zuckerberg dont support his products. In that way we made him what he is.
Public schools don’t generate self-sustainable income either. Why did Mark think this one would?
He probably saw their test scores and said “what a waste of $100,000,000!” “NOPE not again”
He probably saw their test scores and said “what a waste of money!” “NOPE not again”
I guess after the giant tax cut he just got he doesn’t need the charity write off any more. His new investment in AI makes an educated future workforce unnecessary. More ignorant people in the future are easier to control. I hope we’ll wake up one day and take what’s ours.