Chautauqua Lake Education Fund
Created as Partner in Education

The Chautauqua Lake Education Fund (CLEF) is a newly formed organization established to enhance and enrich the educational programs and initiatives of the Chautauqua Lake Central School District. Founded by Mayville resident Amy Anderson-Schultze and a group of community members, parents, local business leaders, and educators, CLEF’s primary emphasis is to ensure that all students are able to compete successfully in the 21 st century.

The group will coordinate extracurricular enrichment opportunities and provide specific educational tools and initiatives that can be offered by the school district only through private sector involvement or charitable giving.

To help ensure its success, CLEF has formed a three-way partnership with the Chautauqua Lake Central School board of education and the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation. Partnering with the Community Foundation will allow CLEF to operate as a not-for-profit by establishing funds and administering CLEF’s philanthropic endeavors through the Foundation’s tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status.

Chautauqua Lake Superintendent Ben Spitzer praised Amy Anderson-Schultze specifically, and CLEF as a whole, for taking the lead in developing a proactive approach to budget and enrollment challenges. “Amy’s vision, as originally expressed during a budget listening session, is a powerful example of how collaboration can lead to results,” stated Spitzer. Furthermore, Spitzer emphasized the need for additional creative partnerships that place student needs as a central element to working together. “As economic factors and declining enrollment continue to strain our ability to work independently,” he emphasized, “we have to find common ground to preserve and enhance the best of what we have.”

CLEF will also be accountable to the Chautauqua Lake Central School District’s board of education for its programs and initiatives. “As partners with the board,” says Schultze, “we want to ensure that students are ready to compete not only on a local and national level but globally.”

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