Mission
The Leverett Education Foundation aims to build the critical financial resources needed to sustain quality education and maintain fiscal viability in our town. By raising awareness, inspiring giving, and bringing people together in support of Leverett Elementary School, the Leverett Education Foundation helps foster a connected, caring and educated community.
Our Story
For the past several years, budget hearings before the Leverett Select Board and presentations at town meeting have struck an increasingly ominous note. Without some sort of legislative change, Leverett is steadily approaching a fiscal cliff due to the tax levy ceiling imposed under Massachusetts law.
The implications for Leverett Elementary School, to which more than one third of the town’s budget is devoted, are dire: funds to operate the school may no longer keep up with inflation and the possibility of major cuts to the school’s programs are all too real. With the town in an impossible situation – prohibited by the state from raising taxes but also without the ability to increase revenues by any other means – a group of residents realized that if the high-quality education that LES provides is to continue, to the benefit of Leverett’s children and the community as a whole, the people of Leverett will need to step up. Out of that conviction emerged the Leverett Education Foundation with its two-fold mission:
To educate our community about the financial realities the school faces
To raise funds to help support vitally important programs that the school’s steadily contracting operating budget could no longer sustain.
Our Board
Read a message from LEF President, Steve Weiss
The LEF board is comprised of a group of Leverett residents committed to helping our town maintain the excellence of our local school in the face of budgetary challenges.
Steve Weiss — President
Hannah Blunt
Craig Cohen
Jonathan Camadeco
Anne-Elise Olsen