PEORIA, Ill. – Monday evening members of the District 150 School Board voted to approve a pay increase of 3% for Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat.
Dr. Desmoulin-Kherat will also receive a bonus of $5,000. The motion carried after four members voted in favor of the compensation increase while two opposed. One of those two being board member Dan Walther.
During the 2017-2018 school year, the district’s website showed Dr. Desmoulin-Kherat earned $249,807.76.
In January of this year, the school board approved a new five-year contract with the superintendent. At that time Dr. Desmoulin-Kherat was given an annual salary of $260,000 annually. The contract paid out $1.3 million over that five years.
After the first pay increase, Walther said Dr. Desmoulin-Kherat’s contract is the most profitable superintendent contract in downstate Illinois.
Peoria Public School board president, Dan Adler, said according to the last contract the board signed Dr. Desmoulin-Kherat’s salary was already set to increase by 3% this year.
While some members of the board and others from the public disagree, Adler said Dr. Desmoulin-Kherat deserves this raise.
“I voted in affirmative for that reason that she’s done a yeoman’s job in terms of moving the momentum of the district in the right direction and we wanted to recognize that,” Adler said.
Walther said he thinks Dr. Kherat has done a good job, but adds that the district has a long way to go. He said there are a lot of things he agrees with Dr. Kherat on, but he doesn’t agree with this raise.
…A number of other things we’ve done I totally agree with, but not enough to warrant this increase.
Dan Walther, Peoria Public Schools board member
