After months of tension, Mayor Brandon Johnson told Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez this week that he wants the embattled schools chief to leave his position, four sources told the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ.
Martinez did not immediately resign and instead plans to wait to hear from the Board of Education, two sources said. The seven-member board, which was appointed by Johnson, has the sole authority to dismiss the CPS CEO but has sided with Martinez this year in a couple of key disputes.
A senior aide to the mayor said on the condition they remain anonymous that Martinez now “has lost the board.”
Chicago Board of Education President Jianan Shi didn’t answer calls Friday.
The mayor’s office and Martinez have clashed on financial issues. Johnson wants the school district to take out a short-term loan to pay for costs related to a new Chicago Teachers Union contract, which is still being negotiated, and to pay a part of the city’s contribution to the municipal pension fund. City Hall had historically made that payment until former Mayor Lori Lightfoot shifted the cost to CPS because more than half of the fund’s members are school district employees.
Martinez has refused to take out a loan, saying it was fiscally irresponsible, and the board, at least initially, had sided with the CEO. Martinez didn’t include the pension payment in CPS’ budget — a shocking rebuke of the mayor.
But the senior aide said the majority of board members now agree with the mayor that the school district should take out the loan.
In the long-run, the mayor and his allies in the teachers’ union say the state must be held responsible for coming up with more funds for CPS.
The mayor’s office also is dismayed that Martinez’s administration conducted an analysis earlier this year of schools that could potentially be closed, the top mayoral aide said. Martinez has denied having any plans or serious discussions to close schools and knows the mayor is staunchly against closings.
While a shakeup at the top of the nation’s fourth-largest public school district wouldn’t come as a surprise — the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ reported last month that Johnson’s administration was laying the groundwork to oust Martinez — it would be sure to have ripple effects.
Martinez spent this week presenting a new five-year strategic plan for the school system and received a unanimous vote of approval from the board on Wednesday — before the conversation with Johnson.
The dismissal of a CPS chief executive in the middle of CTU negotiations would be unprecedented since the Chicago mayor’s office was given control of the school system in 1995.
The Board of Education amended Martinez’s contract in December 2022 to require six months’ notice of termination without cause. During that time, Martinez would continue working and transition his duties to a new CEO. In that scenario, his contract calls for 20 weeks’ severance, which would come out to $138,733. Martinez’s five-year contract runs through June 30, 2026.
Martinez remaining on the job for another six months would likely cause tensions to boil over with the CTU, which could go on strike over contract negotiations in January — or sooner if the union finds a reason to charge CPS with an unfair labor practice.
If the school board moved to fire Martinez for cause, it would have to cite misconduct or criminal activity, failure to perform his duties, fraud or other wrongdoing. His contract’s 2022 amendment says “any other conduct inconsistent with the CEO’s duties and obligations to CPS or the Board, or that may be reasonably perceived to have a material adverse impact on the good name and integrity of CPS or the Board.”
That decision should be made “in the sole judgment of the Board,” according to Martinez’s contract.
If Martinez were to be dismissed for cause, his contract does not prevent him from filing suit for wrongful termination. A decade ago, Martinez sued a school board in Nevada that attempted to fire him. They settled for $700,000, according to the Reno Gazette Journal, and board members were issued fines by state officials in the heated public dispute.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), a member of Johnson’s City Council leadership team, accused the mayor of aligning too closely with the CTU’s wishes.
“Mayor Johnson needs to understand that he’s the chief executive officer for the city,” Villegas said.
The former chair of the City Council’s Hispanic Caucus, Villegas also criticized the potential departure of another Latino leader after Chief Procurement Officer Aileen Velasquez was forced out and paid an undisclosed severance package to compensate her for the early termination of her four-year term.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), Johnson’s former City Council floor leader, said Martinez’s rejection of the mayor on the pension payment and loan is “irresponsible” and warrants his dismissal.
“He refused to put forward a budget that covers the pension costs for his system,” Ramirez-Rosa said. “That’s a problem. If he refused to do that, it’s time for him to go.”
Ramirez-Rosa said the list of possible replacements for Martinez should start with the mayor’s chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas, a former state senator with an extensive background in education policy.
“She has tremendous credentials” that are “too long to list,” Ramirez-Rosa said.