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Martinez also served as a superintendent in Nevada and San Antonio, as well as a chief financial officer for Chicago Public Schools.
Pedro Martinez, the current head of Chicago Public Schools, has been tapped to serve as commissioner of the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which has spent more than a year without a permanent leader.
Martinez, who has served as the chief executive officer of CPS since 2021, was described as a candidate with varied experience with large, complex organizations and school districts in a meeting Tuesday, where board members deliberated between three final candidates.
In addition to leading CPS, Martinez previously served as a superintendent in Nevada and San Antonio and a chief financial officer in Chicago, board members discussed.
Board Member Ericka Fisher, of Worcester, lauded that Martinez was “able to raise teacher salaries” while in Chicago.
“His commitment to students in poverty and multilingual learners is extremely important as we try to close these opportunity gaps,” Fisher said. “If we really want to see equity, we really want to close those gaps, we need a leader who is passionate, has shown that experience already and can bring that to the Commonwealth.”
Martinez was selected with a vote over Jack Elsey, founder and CEO of the Michigan Educator and Workforce Initiative, and Lily Laux, who formerly served the Texas Education Agency as deputy commissioner. Two members of the board supported Laux, while the rest voted for Martinez.
Teachers have ‘concerns’ over job search after board vetted 42 candidates
Martinez, as well as 41 other candidates, applied to the position through a third-party executive search firm. A board subcommittee interviewed nine candidates in March and selected the finalists “using feedback from non voting committee members, including more than two dozen educators, school administrators, community leaders, and key stakeholders,” Board Chair Katherine Craven said Tuesday.
Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, said in a statement that the union “would have preferred a candidate with more statewide experience and have concerns about how this search process was conducted.”
AFT Massachusetts represents more than 25,000 public school employees, higher education faculty, and public librarians.
“Our next Commissioner – especially one unfamiliar with the Massachusetts education landscape – must put in the work to do this and earn the trust of the union educators who dedicate their lives to providing for our students and advocating for the services they need and the exceptional education they deserve,” Tang said.
Unlike Laux and Elsey, Martinez has not served in a statewide position, but instead for large districts like Chicago and San Antonio.
“I initially had been concerned about the lack of state level experience relative to Lilly Laux, but I learned from the interview in my own research that in some of the settings that he’s worked as superintendent, including Chicago, that the district role is in some ways more similar to the state role in terms of the leaders available for driving change,” Board Member Martin West said.
Secretary of Education Pat Tutwiler, who is currently serving as interim commissioner, stepped in after DESE’s previous leader took a new position. Former Acting Commissioner Russell Johnston was selected in February to be a superintendent of a school district in Pennsylvania starting May 1.
The board has been without permanent leadership for more than a year after Jeffrey Riley resigned in March of last year.
“There is a proven track record of success in extraordinarily unideal contexts, whether it’s a political context or one wherein there’s a global pandemic, Pedro has consistently demonstrated an ability to work in collaboration to create the conditions for success, not for some, for all,” Tutwiler said of Martinez.
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