Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has selected San Antonio schools superintendent Pedro Martinez to be the next CEO of Chicago Public Schools, sources told the Tribune.

       Lightfoot is scheduled to announce the selection Wednesday morning at Benito Juarez high school in Pilsen, where Martinez reportedly graduated from.

       Martinez has led the San Antonio Independent School District since June 2015 and previously served as chief financial officer at CPS under former CEO Arne Duncan.

       Martinez will replace Janice Jackson, who announced in May that she was stepping down. José Torres, a former CPS official and former chief of Elgin-based District U-46 has been leading as interim chief since Jackson’s departure.

       The new leader will have some central-office rebuilding to do: Several high-ranking CPS officials left the district when Jackson stepped down or have since departed.

       The San Antonio school district is much smaller than Chicago — with about 50,000 students compared to more than 300,000 in CPS — posing a potential challenge for Martinez as he takes over for Jackson. But it shares some of CPS’s characteristics, such as a student population that is majority non-white and where poverty is widespread.

       Chicago Public Schools is expected to name a new CEO Wednesday. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

       He will enter a considerably different political climate, however.

       In Texas, Martinez defied Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning public entities from issuing COVID-19 vaccination mandates. That prompted a lawsuit against the San Antonio district from the Texas attorney general in August. Martinez asserted in a statement that the district had a right under federal equal employment law to implement the mandate.

       “Separate from that, it is our state and federal responsibility to protect children in our charge, and we will continue to act in the best interests of our students, families and community,” the statement said. “We will continue to adhere to the directives from our local health authority and guidance from the CDC in order to be the most responsive to what our immediate community is demanding and expecting from us.”

       In addition to the struggles of the lingering pandemic and ongoing tensions with the Chicago Teachers Union, CPS is also entering a new phase as it transitions over the next few years to being run by a fully elected school board.

       Check back for updates on this developing story.

       Lightfoot to name San Antonio schools chief Pedro Martinez as new CPS CEO, sources say

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