A residency requirement for district administrators would “hamper” Peoria Public Schools in the future, claims superintendent Dr. Sharon Kherat.
At Monday night’s board of education meeting, the board was set to vote on a new policy to require members of the superintendent’s cabinet making more than $100,000 per year to live within the boundaries of District 150. The agenda item was initially put forth by board members Chase Klaus and Dr. Anni Reinking, but vice president Mike Murphy motioned to table the matter until the board's Policy Committee could draft its own version.
Reinking emphasized that she and Klaus wanted to bring the policy to the board because they felt it had been pushed to the back burner.
“While Chase (Klaus) and I may not have thought this was going to get passed tonight, we wanted to push the conversation because this conversation isn’t happening,” said Reinking. “The conversation is that we have people in very high-paying jobs that are…seemingly not connected to the community and dedicated to the community because their tax dollars aren’t being (used) here, they’re not living here, their property taxes aren’t here.”
“They don’t have that same connection that people who live in Peoria do,” said Reinking.
The full text of Klaus and Reinking’s proposed policy included the following terms:
For cabinet members who make $100,000 or more:
- By Aug. 1, 2025 current cabinet members must have their primary residence (live) within District 150.
- Starting Aug. 1, 2023 new hired cabinet members must have their primary residence (live) within District 150.
- OR have a minimum of 10 years of teaching (classroom) experience within the District 150 school system.”
Superintendent Kherat pushed back on the idea of a residency requirement and highlighted a previous failed vote on a residency requirement in June 2020.
“I’m telling you, you do this, and it’s going to put PPS at a big disadvantage,” said Kherat. “It would hamper the hiring of qualified senior level staff from outside a wider pool of candidates.”
Kherat continued to raise concerns regarding hiring, connecting the drawbacks of the proposal with the ongoing shortage of education staff.
“Whoever the superintendent will be, it would tie their hands and it would put us at a huge disadvantage with the workforce challenges that everyone is experiencing,” said Kherat. “I would highly recommend we don’t go down that road.”
Despite this, Kherat and her team offered some concessions.
“While opposing this policy at the time, the administration did say it would support making the residency requirement only to individuals hired after the policy is put in place,” said Kherat. “It would also support offering two different types of salaries to new employees as they’re hired in the district going forward. For example, one, a higher salary for those who agree to move into the city, and two, a reduced salary for those who cannot and are unable to move into the city.”
The residency requirement is now in the hands of the Policy Committee led by board member Gregory Wilson who said an updated proposal would be available for the next board meeting on March 13.
