Dr. Horton Repayment Agreement

District 65's Interest Free $25,000 Loan to Dr. Horton

Dr. Horton owes Evanston’s kids $25,000.

The Evanston Roundtable first reported on this a few weeks ago, Horton to make District 65 repayment in monthly installments.

I FOIA’ed a copy of the agreement that you can read here. The basic premise is that he has to make $700/mo payments via mail to District 65 until July 1, 2026. If he elects not to make a payment, then he is in default and the District can elect to go after him to collect.¹

This clause (12d) in his contract is presumably designed to reimburse the District for hiring a Superintendent search firm; something they have not done. But a rule is a rule, the rest of us don’t get magically absolved from terms of employment contracts and neither should those in power.

According to friend of the Substack, Decaturish, Dr. Horton is making $325,000 in DeKalb.

I believe that if the Evanston Roundtable had not done the initial reporting, the Board would’ve likely ignored the termination clause in his contract. I also believe that it’s inevitable that at some point he will default on these payments², he’s filed for bankruptcy twice and been sued by the City of Chicago over all sorts of liens on his properties. And then, what? Why are we permitting someone who broke a contract with the District and then used his side hustle to recruit away a potential replacement to get an interest free loan?

1. I’ll be honest. I don’t understand how he couldn’t offset his presumably unused vacation days against this balance. He had a quite lucrative employment contract when it came to vacation; did he use all his (FIFTY!) PTO days?

2. Bankruptcy and financial risks aside, I’m not sure I could remember to write a check 12 times a year.