NORTHAMPTON — A political action committee that looks to be an influential player in the city’s upcoming municipal elections by supporting candidates who will help it boost funding for the public school system has released a preliminary list of endorsements.
The Support Our Schools and Services Political Action Committee, which according to the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance has raised more than $27,000 for its cause, last week said it is backing 14 of the 38 total candidates in the races for mayor, City Council and School Committee, though the group is not endorsing candidates for every council and School Committee seat. Endorsed candidates include Jillian Duclos for mayor, Deb Henson and Meg Robbins for the council’s two at-large seats and Emily Serafy-Cox for an at-large School Committee seat, among others.
The PAC, along with an advocacy group bearing the same name, was formed in the wake of Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra’s budget for fiscal 2025, which made numerous staff cuts to the city’s school district. The fiscal 2026 school budget, for the coming academic year, was enough to prevent layoffs, but still led to some reduction in services.
The email from the PAC stated that the endorsements were made by an Endorsement Committee made up of volunteers from across the city, including representatives from every ward, parents in the schools, teachers and union representatives. The committee said it may endorse other candidates after preliminary elections on Sept. 16.
“We are proud of the Endorsement Committee’s work, and its commitment to a democratic process. We appreciate their hard work and collaboration and their willingness to make decisions which can be difficult,” the email reads. “In some cases, there are multiple candidates in the race who share our values and will support increased school funding. We encourage voters to support the candidates of their choice, and new candidates may be endorsed after the preliminaries in September.”
In addition to the at-large council race, other receiving endorsements for the council include Michele Ronco, Ward 1; Alan Simon, Ward 2; incumbent Jeremy Dubs, Ward 4; Vincent Rotello IV, Ward 5; Christopher Stratton, Ward 6; and incumbent Rachel Maiore, Ward 7.
Endorsements for the School Committee, in addition to Serafy-Cox, include Alena Bartoli, Ward 1; Anat Weisenfreund, Ward 2; Renika Rochelle Montgomery-Tamakloe, Ward 3; and Valerie Dawn Reiss, Ward 7.
Among council races, the only seat not to receive an endorsement is Ward 3, where incumbent Quaverly Rothenberg faces two opponents in the preliminary elections, Laurie Loisel and Ace Tayloe. Loisel has already publicly stated she would not seek SOS’s endorsement. Rothenberg in her time on the council has been one of the strongest advocates for higher school spending, raising charter objections to delay votes on school budgets and vocally criticizing the mayor’s budget approach during her time on the council.
Amber Clooney, a member of the Support Our Schools advocacy group, said the committee’s decision not to endorse in Ward 3 was due to not wanting to choose between Rothenberg and Tayloe, who has also expressed support for higher school spending.
“They had two candidates, and decided not to endorse one over the other,” Clooney said.
On the School Committee, SOS did not endorse candidates for Ward 4, Ward 5 and Ward 6, each of which has only one candidate running. Clooney said that some candidates had not submitted their questionnaire in time, preventing an endorsement from the group.
She added that the endorsement process consisted of a questionnaire sent to candidates as well as interviews with each candidate and a look at prior voting records in the case of incumbents.
The decision to form a committee of volunteers to determine endorsements was so they would not be made by a “small group” of people, according to Tyler Barnett, the treasurer for the Support Our Schools PAC.
“The PAC didn’t want to impose itself on that process,” Barnett said. “Now it will be our decision on how much to support each candidate.”
