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Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez is one step closer to becoming the top education official in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted during a public meeting on Tuesday to recommend Martinez to be the next commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Nine of 11 members of the Massachusetts board voted for Martinez. The other two abstained. Both said earlier in the meeting that they supported candidate Lily Laux, the former deputy commissioner of school programs at the Texas Education Agency.
The board will now send its recommendation to the Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler, who must give final approval and is also currently serving as the department’s interim commissioner. However, Tutwiler, who also sits on the board, said he supports Martinez and voted yes for him.
Martinez, who was fired from CPS without cause in December, was one of three finalists for the Massachusetts job and one of 42 people who had applied. If he takes the job, he will be responsible for overseeing and providing state support for Massachusetts’ roughly 400 school districts. He would also become the first Latino to have the job, according to a press release from Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“This is someone who has had progressive experience in increasingly larger and more complex organizations with significantly increased, let’s say, political situations that they have to balance,” said Matt Hills, the board’s vice chair, during the meeting. “But at the end of the day, this is someone who has been able to lead large organizations to get pretty significantly positive results in key education priorities that we have.”
Several board members said they were impressed by Martinez’s leadership experience — with some generally noting controversy he’s faced — as well as his interest in students from low-income households and those learning English as a new language. Another noted she was impressed that he was able to raise teacher salaries in Chicago, which most recently came after a tense, yearlong bargaining process with the Chicago Teachers Union.
Martinez’s firing was fueled in part by a tense disagreement with Mayor Brandon Johnson over how to pay for labor contracts and a pension contribution.
Board member Martin West said he was concerned about Martinez’s lack of state experience relative to Laux, but he found through Martinez’s interview that district leadership is “in some ways more similar to the state role in terms of the levers available for driving change.”
Board member Ericka Fisher said she felt Martinez was the sort of candidate who “can stay standing and continue fighting the good fight” in the face of the education climate both in Massachusetts and under the Trump administration.
The board’s decision comes after it interviewed Martinez and two other finalists at an hourslong public meeting last week. Martinez attended that meeting in person and spoke about a variety of topics, including serving English learners, students with disabilities and efforts to expose students to early college programs.
In a statement, Martinez said he is “honored” to be selected for the job and that Chicago and CPS will “always hold a special place in my heart.”
“I am committed to finishing the school year strong here and will leave CPS in mid-June with a deep sense of pride and optimism for its future, knowing the district is in strong hands and moving in the right direction,” Martinez said.
Once the education secretary finalizes the board’s recommendation, Martinez plans to accept the job after negotiating terms of his contract, according to a source close to the CEO.
The Massachusetts board chair previously said she hoped to have a commissioner in place by July 1, according to Jackie Reis, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Per his CPS contract, a firing without cause allows Martinez to stay at the district through June.
Before CPS, Martinez was the superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District and held various education roles in Nevada.
This story has been updated with comment from CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
