Facebook CEO, wife give $120M to schools

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are giving $120 million to San Francisco Bay Area public schools.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are giving $120 million to San Francisco Bay Area public schools.

The gift is to be spread over five years. It is the biggest allocation to date of the $1.1 billion in Facebook stock the couple pledged last year to the nonprofit Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

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“What we are trying to do is catalyze change by exploring and promoting the development of new interventions and new models,” said Dr. Chan, a pediatrician.

The first $5 million of the $120 million will go to the San Francisco, Ravenswood, and Redwood City school districts and will focus on principal training, classroom technology, and helping students transition from the 8th to the 9th grade. The couple and their foundation, called Startup: Education, determined the issues of most urgent need based on discussions with school administrators and local leaders.

The gift comes as critics are questioning what became of Mr. Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation four years ago to Newark’s public schools. While well-intentioned, the money has so far failed to fix the city’s ailing school system.