We are often asked how insurance companies determine charter schools’ insurance premiums.   We want to shed some light on this by explaining what insurance companies look at to determine premiums to hopefully help you save some money on compensation in the future.  For this post, we will focus on the two primary insurance policies for a charter school: general liability and worker’s compensation insurance.

General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance for a charter school is usually determined by the number of students in the school and the number of playgrounds on the school’s premises.

An insurance company will look at the total number of students a charter school has, and their age ranges to determine a per student rate.  The per-student rate is then multiplied by the total number of students to assess a total general liability premium.

Insurance companies will usually have a flat rate for any playgrounds on the school’s premises.

Workers Compensation Insurance

Workers Compensation Insurance is based upon your total payroll.   Each employee is placed into a class code determined by their job description and duties.  (Most charter schools will only use two class codes for all teachers and administrative employees and one for any maintenance employees.)   The payroll is then multiplied by a rate from the insurance company to determine the total premium.

*Nevada is slightly different in workers comp premium calculations as the state allows any employee making over $36,000 annually to cap their payroll at the $36,000.