Evanston/Skokie District 65 is aiming to close financial reporting gaps identified in a recent forensic accounting report by the end of this school year. The work covers vendor and contract tracking, bidding exceptions, business documentation and processes for reporting and escalating financial concerns.
District 65 Chief Financial Officer Eric Miller outlined the plan in a 10-minute presentation to the school board at its Monday, Nov. 9 meeting, following more than two hours of discussion on budget reduction plans.
Reporting gaps
Last month, the district released the results of a forensic audit that sampled district financial documents from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2024. The board requested the audit in December 2025 following the federal indictment of former District 65 Superintendent Devon Horton.
Horton, who served as superintendent from July 2020 through June 2023, pleaded guilty Oct. 5 to felony charges of wire fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion for his role in a kickback scheme funneling district contracts to several of his friends.
The accounting report, completed by consulting firm Crowe, found weaknesses in district record-keeping and inconsistencies in savings estimates.
On Monday, Miller walked the board through a plan to address these issues. By December, the district intends to complete a cumulative review of vendors and contract-limit tracking.
By spring 2027, the district is aiming to establish clear procedures for contracts, bidding exceptions and purchasing card offboarding. It will also publish reporting and escalation processes for financial concerns so that district employees have a route to speak up about issues if needed.
Finally, by June 2027, the district plans to create documentation for cross-training employees in these practices and for transitions in administrator financial permissions and access.
“We’ll be clear about what’s complete, what remains open and what evidence supports that assessment,” Miller told the board.
Existing changes
Miller also said work is already underway to strengthen the district’s financial reporting.
“I’ve met with the staff responsible for contracts and purchasing to understand the actual requests, documentation and the approval process,” he said. “Those conversations prompted further policy review and reinforcement.”
Changes include restrictions on purchasing card use, a requirement that reimbursable purchases be approved in advance and new spending permissions, according to Miller.
“The superintendent or any other single person cannot initiate a contract, approve the invoice and release the payment alone,” he said. “Every requester needs at least one additional approver, and some requests need more.”
Board commendations and questions
Board members discussed the presentation briefly but offered some praise and asked a few questions.
Board Vice President Chris Van Nostrand asked about Crowe’s access to district systems, as the report said the firm “did not independently access the district’s enterprise resource planning systems (Alio or IV) to generate reports, extract data, or conduct onsite document review to verify the completeness or accuracy of the materials provided by the district.”
According to Miller and Assistant Superintendent Stacy Beardsley, that limitation stemmed largely from difficulty extracting data from retired systems, especially Alio, the district’s former financial system.
“It wasn’t necessarily that they couldn’t get it,” Miller said. “It’s just that they didn’t get it, from my understanding.”
Board member Pat Anderson also asked how the new procedures would affect the district’s budget. Miller said he expects them to have little budget impact at first, but to help shift the culture around financial reporting and better track dollars present.
“These are some significant gaps, although there’s been a lot of great work done already,” said board member Maria Opdycke.
Opdycke also asked the district to better publicize this work in the future to help build trust with the community.
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Source: evanstonroundtable.com
