EVANSTON, IL — As Evanston/Skokie School District 65 prepares to announce its next superintendent, recent reports reveal Devon Horton, the district’s previous school chief, has been delinquent on his debt payment plan with his old district.
Horton quit last year to take a higher-paying job in DeKalb County, Georgia. Because he neglected to provide the District 65 board with a 180-day notice that he was leaving, his contract required him to pay back $25,000.
To avoid having to pay that amount all at once, Horton negotiated a repayment plan that required him to make monthly $700 payments through the middle of 2026.
But Horton has been late late with every single payment after the first one last year.
According to the language of the agreement, that means Horton has been in default and the board had the option of calling in the remaining money it was owed.
As first reported by local newsletter FOIA Gras, District 65’s Student Assignment Director Sarita Smith, who is become at least the latest administrator to leave for a job with Horton in Georgia, served as an intermediary for his initial late repayments.
Since the start of the year, the district has set up a system to allow Horton to pay the money back directly via electronic payment, which it did not have previously, she said.
Following the recent scrutiny on his failure to repay his debt to the district, Board President Sergio Hernandez told the Evanston Roundtable that officials would “consider holding [Horton] in default” if he failed to immediately pay back the money owed.
A spokesperson last week told the Roundtable Horton made his February payment in the final days of the month.
Anything after the 15th is considered late and subject to a 10 percent fee, according to the payment plan.
“The District is in the process of communicating next steps with Dr. Horton that his consistent late payments are not acceptable and the District expects him to be fully caught up on payments,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “This is unfortunate given the good will the Board showed to Dr. Horton in agreeing to the repayment plan.”
Horton, who has twice filed for bankruptcy protection, most recently in 2015, receives an annual salary of $325,000 in his current position.
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