The school is insured. You are an employee of the school. Those are not the same thing when the complaint names you.
A teacher is sued, investigated or disciplined as a person, not as a line item in the district's policy. The district's insurance defends the district and covers the teacher only while their interests line up, which is exactly when a complaint stops being routine: an allegation of excessive discipline, a student hurt on a field trip the teacher supervised, a parent claiming a grade or an accommodation was handled wrong, a licensing board hearing. A personal educator liability policy pays for the teacher's own lawyer in all of those, including the ones the district never sees. We place it for classroom teachers, coaches, substitutes, paraprofessionals, tutors and student teachers, whether or not a union policy is already in force.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What teacher businesses actually need.
Educator professional liability
Defense and damages when a student, parent or colleague alleges your teaching, supervision or advice caused harm.
Without it — The district's policy decides whether to defend you and can settle a claim in a way that goes on your record without asking.
Employment and license defense
Legal fees for a disciplinary hearing, a licensing board complaint or a termination you are contesting.
Without it — The district is the other side of that dispute, so its insurance will not pay your lawyer.
Criminal defense reimbursement
Legal costs, up to a sublimit, if you are charged over something that happened in your job and are acquitted or the charge is dropped.
Without it — A false allegation of abuse or corporal punishment is defended out of your own savings until it is dismissed.
Bail bond and assault-related expenses
Small sublimits for a bond, and for medical costs and lost property if a student or parent assaults you.
Without it — These are the costs that arrive the same week as the incident, before anyone has decided who was at fault.
Coverage outside the classroom
Coaching, clubs, field trips, tutoring on the side and volunteer work at another school, as long as it is educational.
Without it — A district policy stops at the district's programs; the summer tutoring client who sues is yours alone.
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A student is injured under your supervision
Covered by Professional liability
A parent names the teacher alongside the school. The district defends the school; the policy defends you and pays if the suit finds you personally negligent.
Common
An allegation of excessive discipline or inappropriate contact
Covered by Professional liability and criminal defense reimbursement
The district must investigate and often suspends first. Your lawyer at the first interview is the difference between a cleared file and a resignation.
Common
A termination or license complaint you contest
Covered by Employment and license defense, up to the sublimit
Sublimits are a few thousand dollars, which pays for a hearing, not a lawsuit. The union policy, where you have one, may go further here.
Less common, severe
A parent sues over grading, special education services or a college recommendation
Covered by Professional liability
These are long, document-heavy cases. The claim is rarely paid, but the defense runs to five figures before it is dismissed.
What the policy will not cover.
Pick a procedure to see what the exclusion actually means and whether it can be placed somewhere else.
The policy follows you as an educator: anything you do in teaching, coaching, supervising or advising students, in or out of the building. It is not a policy for the school and not a policy for a business you run.
Where a teacher's policy stops
The school's own liability
The building, the buses, the board and the employment practices of the institution are the school's policies, not the teacher's.
Can it be placed? Yes, on a school package.
A tutoring or coaching business with employees
Once you hire people or sign contracts with families, it is a business and needs its own general and professional liability.
Can it be placed? Yes, as a small business policy.
Intentional acts proven true
The policy defends an allegation and reimburses when you are cleared. It does not pay for conduct a court finds you actually committed.
Can it be placed? No; no policy covers it.
Driving students in your own car
An accident on the way to a game is an auto claim on your personal policy, which may exclude carrying students for the school.
Can it be placed? Yes, by asking the school for non-owned auto coverage or telling your own insurer.
What the insurance company will ask about your teacher business
We read 2 applications the markets use for this kind of business and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- What is your school or district's name, address, and contact information?
- How many students do you have, broken down by grade level (Pre-K, K, 1-8, 9-12)?
- How many junior high schools and senior high schools do you operate?
- Are you recognized as a tax-exempt organization by the IRS?
How you operate
- Do you have a governing board, and if so, how many members?
- Does your board have written bylaws or an operating agreement?
- Does your school have a Personnel or Human Resources department, and how do you handle HR functions?
- Do you run an internship program, and if so, which types (teaching, nursing, physical therapy, etc.)?
- Do you offer any football programs at the junior or senior high level, and how many students participate?
Safety and controls
- Does your board have written policies on student acceptance, discipline, harassment and bullying, alcohol use, academic standards, and threats of violence?
- Does your board have conflict of interest guidelines for business dealings with board members?
- Do you conduct federal and state criminal background checks on all employees before they start?
- Do you have a comprehensive employee handbook covering ADA, discipline, harassment, terminations, and equal employment opportunity?
- Have your policies and procedures been reviewed by your attorney?
Your history
- Have there been any disputes involving discrimination, civil rights violations, or harassment at your school?
- In the past two years, how many teachers, administrators, or professional staff have left due to involuntary termination, resignation, or layoffs?
- In the past 12 months, has any board member or officer resigned for reasons other than health, promotion, retirement, or term expiration?
- Do you anticipate any school closings, layoffs, or workforce reductions in the next 12 months?
- Have there been any acquisitions, mergers, or new entities created in the past 12 months, or are any planned?
Money and people
- What is your current enrollment and the number of employees (teachers, administrators, counselors, volunteers, security, and other staff)?
- What percentage of your employees are classified as exempt?
- Do you have systems in place to track employee hours and restrict overtime where possible?
- Are you projecting a budget deficit for the coming fiscal year?
- What are your current insurance policies, carriers, limits, and expiring premiums for directors and officers liability, educators liability, employment practices, and cyber coverage?
Have these ready
- Last three years of financial statements (revenues, expenses, surplus or deficit)
- Current insurance policies for all requested coverage types
- Your employee handbook with written policies on hiring, discipline, harassment, and terminations
- Your board bylaws or operating agreement
- Copy of your most recent three years of claims or loss runs from your current insurance company
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our teacher clients ask us.
Does my union or district already cover me?
Often partly. Many union memberships include an educator liability policy, and every district insures itself. The gaps are the same in both: the district does not defend you against the district, and the union policy has its own limits, sublimits and conditions, some of which end when you leave the union or move states. A personal policy sits alongside both and answers to you.
How much does teacher liability insurance cost?
Individual educator policies run from well under a hundred dollars a year for a classroom teacher to a few hundred for a coach or a special education teacher with higher contact and higher allegation rates. The price barely moves with limit, because the cost is the defense, not the damages.
What does a teacher liability insurance application ask for?
For an individual teacher, the application is short: your role and subject, grade levels, whether you coach or supervise overnight trips, any private tutoring, and any prior complaints, investigations or license actions. The school-side applications we work from go much further: written discipline and bullying policies, background checks on every hire, whether a lawyer has reviewed the handbook, staff turnover and terminations, and the last three years of financial statements. Those questions are the school's to answer, not yours.
Does it cover me as a coach or on a field trip?
Yes, as long as the activity is part of your work as an educator, including after-school clubs, athletics you coach for the school and trips you supervise. A student hurt on the trip usually claims against the school's student accident policy first, which pays medical bills without arguing fault; your policy is there when the parent argues that you were the reason.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.