Peoria Public Schools Superintendent Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat Retires After 11 Years, Leaves Fight for Teacher Grant Funding

A recognized leader departs with a warning about teacher shortages

Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat will retire as superintendent of Peoria Public Schools District 150 on June 30, ending an 11-year tenure that transformed one of Illinois' most struggling urban school districts.

Kherat's departure comes as she makes a final push to save a state teacher recruitment program she credits with reversing the district's chronic staffing crisis. The Teacher Vacancy Grant received $15 million in the new state budget, down from $30 million last year and a fraction of the $45 million appropriated in each of its first two years, according to a June 12 report by WCBU.

"With the Teacher Vacancy Grant, it's just done wonders for Peoria Public Schools," Kherat said in an interview with WCBU. "The super-majority, I would say close to 100% of the individuals who got their license through that grant, they're from Peoria, and they will stay in Peoria."

From a $14 million deficit to higher retention

When Kherat arrived in 2015, she faced a district with a $14 million deficit and more than 100 vacant teaching positions, according to her own account in the WCBU interview.

Under her leadership, the district raised its teacher retention rate from 78% to nearly 89%, increased its graduation rate, and reduced chronic absenteeism, according to WCBU reporting. The number of African-American educators in the district more than doubled, growing from 60 to 123, Kherat wrote in an opinion piece published in the Peoria Journal Star on May 23.

She was named 2025 Illinois Superintendent of the Year by the Illinois Association of School Administrators, according to Illinois State University.

The grant that built a local pipeline

The Teacher Vacancy Grant allowed districts to spend funds on signing bonuses, tuition assistance, housing incentives, and other recruitment tools, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

Kherat chose to invest in people already living in Peoria. The district used the grant to fund two programs:

• Grow Your Own, launched in 2018 in partnership with Bradley University, supports non-certified district staff such as paraprofessionals, clerical workers, and substitutes who want to become licensed teachers. The program currently supports 26 participants and has graduated 18 future educators, according to Kherat's Journal Star opinion.
• TeacherReady, an online certification program for people who already hold bachelor's or master's degrees but lack a teaching license. The program has 33 active participants and has produced 27 certified teachers in three years, according to her opinion piece.

"I was very adamant about investing in people and growing individuals," Kherat told WCBU. "Some school districts spend a lot of their money attracting individuals from outside — but I wanted to focus on people from our own community."

A state resolution honors her career

The Illinois General Assembly passed House Resolution 0862 on May 6, congratulating Kherat on her retirement and honoring her decades of service to Illinois public education, according to BillTrack50. The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (D).

What comes next

Jerry Bell is set to take over as superintendent on July 1, according to WCBU.

Kherat said she plans to stay in Peoria in retirement. She has not ruled out taking on new work in the fall, she told WCBU.

"Retirement for me, it's not an ending," she said. "It's just a transition. I'm stepping away from a full-time superintendency, but I'm not stepping away from service at all."

She also left a to-do item for her successor. Kherat said the district has no formal policy on artificial intelligence in classrooms, even though an AI-powered lesson planning platform has been widely adopted by teachers over the past two years, according to WCBU. She hopes Bell will build a committee of students, parents, staff, and community members to create a framework for student AI use.

"Lead with humility, listen more than you speak," she told Bell. "Never forget that every decision ultimately impacts children. This work is really about children."