Former Chicago Public Schools Employee Cashes in on Contracts

Sean Murphy is a former Chicago Public Schools executive. He now runs his own company that is a sub-contractor with CPS. The Chicago Sun Times reports that being a sub-contractor has its perks.

After five years as a top Chicago Public Schools executive, Sean Murphy now runs his own company.

But he’s still doing work for the school system, overseeing design for small remodeling projects at schools across the city as a subcontractor to URS Corporation under its contract with the Chicago Board of Education.

The pay: $338,000 a year.

That’s $88,000 more than the cash-strapped board pays Barbara Byrd-Bennett as chief executive officer for the city’s schools, $121,790 more than Mayor Rahm Emanuel makes and nearly $78,000 more than the city pays Garry McCarthy as police superintendent.

The “small renovation projects” have amounted to close to $31 million since 2012.

Along with URS Corporation, two other companies, Lend Lease and Jacobs Project Management, have political ties through employees.

Chicago closed 50 schools last year in mostly black neighborhoods. The CPS budget deficits continue.