What is umbrella insurance?

Umbrella liability insurance protects you when accidents happen, and your existing liability insurance policies cannot cover all the expenses. Essentially, it picks up where your business auto liability, general liability, or other liability coverage stops, providing extra protection against bodily injury and/or property damage.  For a charter school, this coverage may also be required by state statute as well.

How commercial umbrella insurance works

A commercial umbrella policy serves two distinct purposes:

• It expands the limit that your school already has in its existing, or underlying, liability policies. If your general liability policy offers $1 million coverage per occurrence or $2 million total, you could expand those limits to $3 million per occurrence and $4 million aggregate with a $2 million umbrella policy.
• It broadens coverage for things that your underlying policies may not cover. If your auto liability policy covers accidents that might occur in a specific area, an umbrella policy could expand the coverage territory.

Customize your umbrella policy to fit your school

Umbrella policies can be customized to fit the unique needs of your charter school.  In evaluating this type of coverage, underwriters will look for the following:

• The financial and operational details of your charter school.
• A copy of the declaration page of your current general liability and business auto insurance policy.
• Any prior losses your school has experienced.
• A list of the school’s officers, their positions, and their experience differs from the owners of record. Typically, the longer and more successful the school’s overall record, the better the risk for the insurer and the lower the premiums.
• Annual payroll and a breakdown of employees who are full-time, part-time, subcontractors, or consultants.