The choice of where to send your children to school can be a big one for families. Sometimes it can determine where you decide to settle or how much you pay in taxesk, but what if you had another choice? That's exactly what the District 150 superintendent wants, and so do local business leaders.
"The ability to attract employers to this area is important and one of the first things parents look at are the schools," said Kyle Ham, CEO of the Peoria Next Innovation Center.
For this reason local business heads are backing the district's push to bring a charter school to Peoria.
"We have long been saying that we wanted to provide choice to our families, and this is one more opportunity," said District 150 Superintendent Ken Hinton.
District 150 administrators have already cleared the first hurdle. During Monday night's school board meeting, members voted to allow the district to advertise a request for charter school applications.
"Basically asking them to put together a proposal to us that says we think we can do these things for the Peoria Board of Education," said Hinton.
There is a lengthy process that must occur before the school board will even be able to vote to award the charter to an outside entity, but administrators say the new science, math and technology based school would not be an added financial burden.
"State funding that comes through District 150 as well as private contribution coming from community and community leaders," said Ham.
Hinton says students would move to the charter school from other schools around the district, sharing funds and resources.
"How do you decide who gets in? The charter schools that have gone on before us have done this already. They have developed a lottery," Hinton explained.
That's if the demand is greater the amount of spots available. District administrators say if the charter school becomes a reality, it will likely be housed at the Adult Education Center on Moss Avenue, but it seems that not everyone is on board for this endeavor.
The Peoria Teachers Union President said he is against charter schools as there has been no input from the Teacher's Union. He says he believed it's designed as a gifted school, and says Peoria does not need another, but local business heads believe this charter school will mold the future Peoria workforce.
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