School board approves broader accident coverage for students during school hours

The Tangipahoa Parish School Board voted July 15 to adopt an amended finance committee recommendation expanding the district’s student accident insurance to cover all students during school hours. Austin Powell, representing the insurance presentation to the board, said the district already purchases policy coverage for extracurriculars and athletics and that a quote obtained after questions at the prior meeting showed adding all students for school-time coverage would cost an additional $16,391. Powell said the total premium with extracurricular coverage would be about $98,346. Board members discussed how the change would interact with an existing $5 voluntary extracurricular fee some families pay to obtain athletic/field-trip coverage. Board members expressed concerns that blanket school-time coverage could reduce voluntary-fee payments and urged the administration to consider enforcement or communication strategies; administrators noted an existing policy permits withholding extracurricular participation when fees are unpaid but that enforcement has been inconsistent. Powell said the expanded coverage would apply to school-supervised events, including those held out of state when the district notifies the carrier in advance. The board approved the amendment and adopted the finance committee’s amended report. The vote adopted the amendment as presented; the administration said it will monitor claims and could separate claim tracking between school-time claims and extracurricular claims to insulate extracurricular premium calculations if needed.