Kankakee School District 111 Admitted It Was A Personal Debt, But Paid It Anyway – Didn’t Know What They Voted For –

Kankakee, Ill. (ECWd) –

A vote to pay the personal debt of school board member Kathy Yancy-Smith, which they thought was $2,100, ended up being a $6,515 payment, courtesy of Kankakee Taxpayers.

We submitted a Request For Review of an alleged violation of the Open Meetings Act to the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (“AG-PAC”) about the August 10, 2026, meeting of the Kankakee School District 111 where the meeting agenda item stated “Approval to pay fine related to Economic Statement of Interest” without mentioning the school board member’s name, nor the dollar amount of the fine.

Every other item on the agenda up for a vote included a link to the supporting documents – except for this item. It is almost as if the school district knew it was wrong and was attempting to keep the public in the dark.

Our previous articles explain some of this:

• Kankakee School District 111 Voted To Pay Fine For Board Member –

• Kankakee School District 111 Paid $6,515 Fine For Kathy Yancy-Smith After Quo Warranto Filed By State’s Attorney –

• Kathy Yancy-Smith Must Reimburse $6,515.00 To Kankakee School District 111 –

• Kathy Yancy-Smith Voted In Favor Of Superintendent, Then Obtained Financial Windfall –

When the school district attorney answered the AG-PAC’s inquiry, it was basically an admission that the school board was unaware of what they were voting on.

• The district claimed the fine was only $2,100, when the actual fine and payment was $6,515 as shown in the attached payment and receipt from the county clerk. If the board voted on a payment of $2,100, but the payment was actually $6,515, then the payment was made without approval of the board.
• The district also stated: “Because the fine was related to the Board member’s service on the Board, the Board considered whether it would be appropriate to pay the fine on the Board member’s behalf.” They admit to paying the fine (personal debt) “on behalf of” the board member, even though they are wrong when claiming it was related to the board member’s service on the board – What this actually is, is related to the board member’s qualification to continue serving on the board, not her actual service on the board. Besides, state law says that school board members shall serve without compensation.
• The district also claims a Kankakee Alderman spoke on the subject of paying the fine on behalf of a board member – but he never mentioned the board member’s name, nor the dollar amount of the fine.

This, in our opinion, begs for each school board member who voted in favor of the payment and for Kathy Yancy-Smith to be prosecuted for (1) Misapplication of Public Funds, (2) Official Misconduct, (3) Violation of Article VIII, Section 1 of the Illinois Constitution, (4) Violation of the Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act, (5) Violation of the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act, (6) violation of the Illinois School Code, and, (7) Theft of public funds.

Additionally, we encourage any resident(s) of the school district to file a civil suit to recover these public funds from Kathy Yancy-Smith, as they should have never been paid using taxpayer funds. We also suggest a letter to the IRS for the school district not reporting this $6,515.00 of income “on behalf” of Kathy Yancy-Smith.

Feel free to read our response to the school district’s letter.

The School District’s letter is below: