DeKalb superintendent to resign after federal indictment

• After the indictment, Norman Sauce III was sworn in as acting superintendent.

The latest: The board on Wednesday approved the resignation, which will go into effect Nov. 15, after an eight-hour executive session.

• The board also voted to engage a forensic auditor, though no additional details were given.
• Horton's contract had been extended to June 30, 2028, by the board in July, according to Decaturish.
• An attorney for Horton didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Axios Atlanta.

Catch up quick: During his tenure in Illinois, Horton allegedly failed to disclose personal or financial ties to companies awarded professional services contracts by the district, the federal indictment charges.

• Horton and his three co-defendants are accused of forming three companies that would eventually gain contracts with the school district.
• The federal indictment, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, charges Horton with 17 counts and alleges he was "receiving kickbacks" from the co-defendants.
• He's also accused of using District 65's purchasing card for personal expenses.
• District 65 said in a statement that Horton also entered into consulting contracts with another district — work he concealed from District 65 — and "fraudulently obtained payments from the other district in his capacity as a consultant."

Friction point: Horton was hired despite opposition from some residents who felt he lacked the experience to lead Georgia's third-largest school district and because of a pending lawsuit over his anti-racist initiatives, Decaturish reported in 2023.

State of play: Now, state lawmakers from DeKalb have formed a subcommittee to review oversight gaps and propose reforms.

• "We will collaborate with the DeKalb County Board of Education to review what went wrong, identify any gaps in oversight and recommend constructive solutions without overstepping our legislative authority," state Rep. Viola Davis said this week.
• In a recent statement, state Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur) called on Horton to be fired.

Zoom in: Tom Hayden, a citizen journalist who runs the FOIA Gras Substack and was the first to report on the allegations against Horton, told Axios he was tipped off and began filing records requests.

• Hayden's reporting found that District 65 awarded more than $150,000 in contracts to companies owned by Horton's "business partners" and that he did not disclose his ties to the school board.

Flashback: DeKalb board members in April 2022 voted to fire former Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris, who was hired in 2020.

• The board fired Watson-Harris amid controversy over how the district and school board responded to deteriorating conditions at Druid Hills High School.
• Watson-Harris sued the school board over its decision to fire her and later settled the dispute. She was replaced by interim Superintendent Dr. Vasanne Tinsley, who served until Horton was hired.

The big picture: Lauren Taylor, a former DeKalb schools parent who keeps regular tabs on the district, told Axios that stakeholders and parents need to demand transparency and accountability from the Board of Education.

• "The parents need to, for once in their life, get over their ZIP code, get over their status, get over whatever it is," Taylor said. "And they need to collectively say, 'We need to do this because if we don't do this, we're going to miss an opportunity to get this right.'"