PHP / Linux Script Question

Hello to all,
I have a php script i created and its used by multiple people in their own folders. I also have a development version I use to make tweaks.

So for the sake of this question, lets assume dev is located it /home/dev/public_html/script

and a user is at /home/user1/public_html/script.

I want to have a php page sitting in /home/dev/sync which runs rsync. This will ask you the destination folder (/home/user1) and it will sync.
Right now each user is a different server account (cpanel) and they dont have rights.

Is there a way to run this as “ROOT” from the /home/dev user in a secure way?
I can lock down directory with htaccess, ip scope, whatever it takes.

I jsut need a way to sync the dev with 10 or more user accounts without doing it manually via SSH as this leaves room for error…

Thanks