EVANSTON, IL — Evanston/Skokie School District 65 publicly released the results of a forensic accounting report that was launched after former Superintendent Devon Horton was indicted for financial crimes involving a kickback scheme.
At this week's District 65 Committee of the Whole meeting, Board President Nichole Pinkard delivered a statement, calling Horton's actions "abhorrent."
"Dr. Horton deeply violated public trust by diverting resources meant to support our students and our schools. The harm goes beyond the money taken. The public should feel confidence and trust in district leadership. Any actions that erode the confidence undermine our mission to provide a quality education to every student," Pinkard said.
The purpose of the report, prepared by Crowe Advisory LLC, was to clarify what went wrong with District 65 contracts, assess whether there were deeper systemic issues, and identify controls that had already improved or could be strengthened.
Board members said the forensic accounting report, which is available in full on the district's website, raised concerns about systemic issues, including hiring practices, budgeting overruns and contract approvals.
"How could this have been prevented, and are we doing the right things as a board to ensure that this cannot happen again?" board member Maria Opdycke said. "It goes beyond the kickback scheme to the hiring practices, to the budgeting overruns, to the contracts for even services that were provided that didn't ultimately lead to any demonstrable improvement in student outcomes."
According to district officials, the review found weak record-keeping, approvals and financial controls, especially from FY 2021 through FY 2023. Those weaknesses in financial controls enabled Horton to commit the financial crimes to which he has now pleaded guilty.
Outside the matters tied to Horton's criminal indictment, Crowe found no evidence of fraud, misappropriation, or personal benefit by any other district employee, board member, or vendor.
Crowe did not find that the record gaps were intentional. In a sample of 139 vendor payments, 138 matched the invoice amount. The one exception was a duplicate payment of about $8,938, which the vendor caught and credited back to the District.
The findings also raised questions about a savings projection tied to the Foster School. In March 2022, the board was told the school's lease payments would be covered by about $3.25 million a year in savings, mostly from busing.
However, the district's transportation director had estimated an actual savings of $500,000 to $800,000 and had warned that other costs could erase that amount. This was not shared with the board at the time, and no records were found to support the $3.25 million in savings.
Crowe's review also showed sloppiness on the district's part when approving contracts and payments. During the review, Crowe could not find a contract for 29 of 139 sampled payments. Another 32 were tied to contracts that were signed after the work started, had expired, or did not clearly apply.
District records for Connecting the Dots Leadership Initiative, Asset Protection Specialist and New Flight 35 were missing contracts or proof that work was done, and most invoices were marked "OK TO PAY" by Horton, the review found.
According to the board, members generally approved bills after payment under Horton, which limited its ability to question them first.
The review also confirmed earlier findings about Horton's District credit card, stating 438 charges totaling $60,532 were against policy, personal, unsupported, or made after he left. So far, Horton has repaid $22,922.
To view the full report alongside District 65's summary and FAQs, click here.
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