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Insurance market shift reduces Sarasota schools’ property premium; board asked to choose between coverage levels
Summary
District risk staff and broker presented a property-insurance renewal showing a roughly 13% premium reduction on a fully insured $75 million limit and a conservative $100 million option; staff recommended remaining fully insured at $75 million and avoiding co-participation to preserve FEMA reimbursement eligibility.
Sarasota County Schools’ risk-management team and broker told the board on April 1 they secured substantially lower property-insurance pricing in the current market and presented two coverage options — a fully insured $75 million tower or a buy-back to a $100 million limit — for board direction.
Ashley Romodka, the district’s chief of human capital, introduced the risk presentation and said district risk director Lynn Peterson and Gallagher broker Danny Parsons negotiated on the district’s behalf. Staff reported an increase in total insurable value (TIV) of about 2.59% and said market conditions supplied more capacity this renewal cycle.
Option 1: a fully insured program to $75 million with a standard $100,000 deductible and a 5% wind deductible (no cap). Staff said the blended premium rate for that option would reflect a 13.24% premium reduction and a 15.43% reduction in the blended rate, which staff estimated would represent approximately $816,000 in savings compared with the expiring program.
Option 2: restore the program to a $100 million tower. Gallagher offered a proposal that would buy additional tower capacity and still show a premium reduction vs. the district’s 2024 premium, but the percent savings was smaller than in Option 1. Staff described Option 1 as the least likely to complicate FEMA reimbursements because it avoids district co‑participation in upper layers of loss, which FEMA sometimes treats as a district-absorbed cost when evaluating disaster reimbursement.
Board members asked about flood exposure and coverage. Staff said most district schools are not located in high-flood-hazard zones; a small number of facilities (including Woodland Middle School) remain in higher-risk areas and are evaluated annually. Risk staff also said final carrier recoveries from prior storms (for example, claims adjustments tied to 2024 storms) remain in process and could yield additional cash recoveries when finalized.
No formal board vote was taken. Risk staff said they would return with a recommendation and final premium figures and requested direction whether to pursue the $75 million fully insured tower or to buy up toward $100 million.
