A former Chicago charter schools executive is earning $250,000 a year to spearhead Gov. Bruce Rauner's top education initiatives. That's more than double what her predecessors received and places her as the highest-paid member of a Cabinet already under scrutiny for its lofty paychecks.

Education secretary Beth Purvis' hiring has not been formally announced by the Rauner administration. But Purvis stood and introduced herself during a House education committee meeting earlier this month.

Purvis holds a doctorate in special education and served as CEO of the Chicago International Charter School network from 2003 through last year.

She previously worked as a special education teacher in Maryland and Tennessee, as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and served on education advisory councils under the last two Illinois governors.