Pedro Martinez

Pedro Martinez (born 1969/1970) Before working in Chicago, he had also served as superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District and superintendent of the Washoe County School District.

Early life and education Martinez was born in Mexico. He was the eldest of twelve children.

He received a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1992, and a Masters in Business Administration from DePaul University in 2006.

Superintendent of Washoe County School District In June 2012, Martinez was hired by the Washoe County School District, succeeding the departing Heath Morrison. Washoe County is the second-largest school district in Nevada. He was fired on July 22, 2014 after being accused of deceiving the district about his credentials as a certified public accountant, as he was not a licensed one. His firing had been done by the school board in violation of open meeting laws, and wound up costing the taxpayers a half-million dollars in legal settlement fees to Martinez. He was reinstated after his firing had been found to have been illegal.

Superintendent of San Antonio Independent School District Martinez became the superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District in June 2015.

Martinez utilized census data to help calculate the extent of "need" at each of the district's schools.

During his tenure, the district became the fastest-improving district in the state of Texas, and drew national attention to Martinez and his work.

He placed low-rated schools into the hands of private organizations, such as charter school operators, in order to improve their performances. Such a practice has received criticism from many public education advocates. He would later state that Texas laws placed him in a situation where he had few options but to privatize and hand schools over to charter operators, arguing that the alternative would have been being forced to close those schools. However, Martinez had the school district adopt a mask mandate. The San Antonio Independent School District trustees accepted his resignation on September 20, 2021, voting to release Martinez from his contract with the district effective September 28. They also voted to appoint Robert Jaklich to serve as his interim successor beginning the following day. Before his departure, president of the school board Christina Martinez credited him with helping to improve its state academic rating, increasing its graduation rates, and expanding dual language programs.

CEO of Chicago Public Schools On September 15, 2021, Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that she would nominate Martinez for appointment as the CEO (superintendent) of Chicago Public Schools. Martinez declared that he expected to take office in the final week of September. As scheduled, Martinez took office on September 29, 2021. He is the first Hispanic individual to serve as CEO of the district on a permanent basis. However, numerous higher-ups within the school district as well as the school board took issue, expressing concern over the prospect of taking on additional debt obligation considering its existing debts. Martinez regarded the plan to be "exhorbitant" and financially reckless. Amid a resultant standstill, the teachers union publicly lambasted Martinez, blaming him and pejoratively labeling him a "Lightfoot holdover". On September 24, the Chicago Tribune published an op-ed by Martinez in which he outlined his reasons for refusing Johnson's request for him to resign. With all of this occurring before a period of change for the board (with the 2024 board election set to reshape its composition from an entirely-appointed board to a hybrid board), the incumbent board members all declined to dismiss Martinez. Ultimately, this conflict led to the entirety of the board (including board president Jianan Shi) to tender their own resignations in early October. 41 out of the 50 members of the Chicago City Council (including some of Johnson's key council allies) signed an open letter criticizing Johnson's move to quickly reshape the board only weeks before the school board election. In the months that have followed, Johnson's desire to oust Martinez continued. On December 20, 2024, a new board of Johnson appointees voted unanimously to terminate Martinez from his position. Since it is a "without cause" dismissal, the terms of Martinez's contract allow him to remain as CEO for six months (until June 2025) and collect a severance payment in excess of $130,000.

During his ouster, an open letter supporting Martinez and opposing Johnson's efforts to oust him was signed by two of Martinez's predecessors: Arne Duncan and Janice K. Jackson. It was also signed by Jesse Ruiz, who had previously served as interim superintendent. Others who signed the letter included Chicago Alderperson Pat Dowell, Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia

Martinez sued the Board of Education for barring him from participating in negotiations related to the teachers union contract. In a December 2024 ruling granting a temporary restraining order, a judge of the Cook County Circuit Court ruled that the Board of Education could not prohibit him from participating in the negotiations, as this amounted to "obstructing" Martinez from "performance of his job duties." The judge further ruled that school board members themselves could not attend negotiations without receiving approval from Martinez. However, he was eliminated from consideration when the Clark County School Board further narrowed its search to three finalists.

Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education On July 1, 2025, Martinez took office as the commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Teacher's unions in Massachusetts expressed some concerns, however, in part because of his past conflicts with teacher's unions during his time at Chicago Public Schools.

Personal life Martinez is married to Benice Alejo.