Pleasant Valley board joins statewide Storm Protection Fund and switches workers' compensation provider

The Pleasant Valley Comm School District Board of Directors voted to participate in the new Storm Protection Fund and to change the district's workers'compensation carrier, actions approved during the board meeting after staff presented renewed insurance quotes and coverage options.

Board consideration followed a staff presentation on the district's 2025'26 insurance renewal. Staff described a late reduction in the district's property premium to $459,095 after negotiations with EMC Insurance and presented a choice: keep a wind/hail deductible buydown limited to the high school or join the statewide Storm Protection Fund as a 28E entity to cover all district buildings and contents.

Staff said the district paid $86,839 this year to reduce the high'school wind/hail deductible to $100,000. Joining the Storm Protection Fund would raise that line to about $134,179 (roughly $60,000 more than the buydown), but would cover every building, reduce the deductible to $75,000 and include property-in-the-open and contents.

Separately, staff recommended switching workers'compensation from SFM to a different carrier, identified in the presentation as RAS Companies. The new quote for workers'comp was $192,016 versus the current carrier's final quote of $209,653, a projected first-year savings of about $17,000. Staff also said the new program could make a dividend of up to 26% available if the district has low claims experience.

Motion and votes: Director Smith moved and Director Kunkle seconded a resolution to participate in the Storm Protection Fund and the Chapter 28E/Chapter 670 risk pool; the motion passed on a roll call vote. Later, Director Wheeler moved and Director Kunkle seconded approval to use RAS Companies for district workers'comp coverage effective July 1, 2025; that motion also passed on roll call.

Board members asked follow'up questions about policy limits, the scope of coverages (for example umbrella/excess liability and pollution insurance for the junior high lagoon), and whether the district was creating any redundancy. Staff said they would confirm several limits and follow up on whether excess liability was necessary.

The board's votes direct staff to finalize the Storm Protection Fund enrollment and to implement the new workers'comp contract; staff also were asked to verify excess liability/umbrella terms and report back to the board.

Quotes from meeting participants come from the staff presentation and board discussion. "So the quote that we got from the new company is $192,016. So that would be a savings of about $17,000 or so by switching our workers' comp to the different company," a staff presenter said. On the Storm Protection Fund, staff said joining would "protect all of our buildings, including the contents and the property in the open" for the higher premium.

Financial note: board members were reminded that insurance premiums are paid from the district management fund rather than the general fund.