Nearly every school across the state is seeing skyrocketing property insurance rate increases this year, according to Alan McClain, commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Insurance.”The average in our program is close to 140% to 145%,” McClain said. “Commercial property insurance is going up across the nation. So it’s not a state of Arkansas-only problem.” Insurance premiums more than doubled for Fort Smith and Rogers public schools.”We’ve gone through a lot. We got a lot through hail and wind damage and other things like that. Those kinds of factors also increase your rate just like it would for you if you’re a homeowner,” said Charles Warren, chief financial officer for the Fort Smith Public School District.Last school year, insurance costs were $836,000 for the district. Current proposals have ballooned to $1.8 million for the 2023-24 school year, an increase of nearly $1 million.Warren told 40/29 News the school district was able to save some money by raising insurance deductibles from $5,000 to $10,000.”So we were able to do that to only lower that percentage down to a 117% (increase),” he said. “Those are very big numbers for Fort Smith public schools.”In Rogers, insurance rates increased from $748,000 to $1.9 million for public school districts.Inflation, combined with a surge in natural disasters across the country and in Arkansas, contributed to the rate increase, McClain said.”It combines together to cause insurers to want to be really picky about the risk that they take on and how much they think they need to charge to cover that,” McClain said. On Tuesday, members of the Arkansas Legislative Council approved additional funding to help schools combat the rising insurance costs. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the state would cover up to 30% of rate increases for public school districts across the state.In Fort Smith, Warren told 40/29 News they’re still working on finalizing budgets for the school district and that insurance rate increases would not affect other initiatives, such as increased teacher salaries.”We believe that, although we’re experiencing significant increases in insurance costs for the district for this next year, we have the funds available so that there’s no disruption to the operations and actual learning and teaching that’s going to go on in the school district,” he said.Members of the Rogers Board of Education met Tuesday night to discuss the increased premiums for their school district.
Nearly every school across the state is seeing skyrocketing property insurance rate increases this year, according to Alan McClain, commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Insurance.
“The average in our program is close to 140% to 145%,” McClain said. “Commercial property insurance is going up across the nation. So it’s not a state of Arkansas-only problem.”
Insurance premiums more than doubled for Fort Smith and Rogers public schools.
“We’ve gone through a lot. We got a lot through hail and wind damage and other things like that. Those kinds of factors also increase your rate just like it would for you if you’re a homeowner,” said Charles Warren, chief financial officer for the Fort Smith Public School District.
Last school year, insurance costs were $836,000 for the district. Current proposals have ballooned to $1.8 million for the 2023-24 school year, an increase of nearly $1 million.
Warren told 40/29 News the school district was able to save some money by raising insurance deductibles from $5,000 to $10,000.
“So we were able to do that to only lower that percentage down to a 117% (increase),” he said. “Those are very big numbers for Fort Smith public schools.”
In Rogers, insurance rates increased from $748,000 to $1.9 million for public school districts.
Inflation, combined with a surge in natural disasters across the country and in Arkansas, contributed to the rate increase, McClain said.
“It combines together to cause insurers to want to be really picky about the risk that they take on and how much they think they need to charge to cover that,” McClain said.
On Tuesday, members of the Arkansas Legislative Council approved additional funding to help schools combat the rising insurance costs. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the state would cover up to 30% of rate increases for public school districts across the state.
In Fort Smith, Warren told 40/29 News they’re still working on finalizing budgets for the school district and that insurance rate increases would not affect other initiatives, such as increased teacher salaries.
“We believe that, although we’re experiencing significant increases in insurance costs for the district for this next year, we have the funds available so that there’s no disruption to the operations and actual learning and teaching that’s going to go on in the school district,” he said.
Members of the Rogers Board of Education met Tuesday night to discuss the increased premiums for their school district.
