Nyssa SD 26 reviews PACE insurance renewal as premiums rise about 18.5%

Nyssa School District 26 board members examined their annual PACE insurance renewal at a June 2 work session, during which the district's presenter, Dallas, said the overall renewal reflected an 18.5% increase and walked trustees through specific coverage changes and limits.

Why it matters: The PACE pool provides the district's property, liability, auto and cyber coverage. Changes to coverage structure and limits affect the district's fiscal exposure and the premiums the board will be asked to approve at the regular meeting on Monday.

Dallas told the board PACE applied a 3.5% trend to structural and personal-property values this year and noted the district's properties were appraised in 2023. The presenter said the district's blanket value for buildings, business personal property and mobile equipment is about $87,000,000 and that the property premium line on the renewal is about $200,000 (a reported 16% change on property lines from last year).

He described several notable policy changes: PACE added explicit language to permit actual cash value (ACV) payments at the start of a loss so the district can begin rebuilding before final replacement-cost settlement; abuse/misconduct coverage has been carved out of general liability into a separately priced line; and cyber liability remains capped at $1,000,000 per coverage period with a $5,000,000 shared aggregate across PACE participants.

On liability, Dallas identified $10,000,000 per occurrence coverage with a $20,000,000 annual aggregate for the district and noted excess liability limits reported on the packet (an excess layer reported around $14,500,000). He also explained hired/non-owned auto exposure and the $75,000 limit that can apply to physical damage when rental-company coverage is declined.

Board members asked questions about deductibles, hired-auto exposure and prior claims experience; one trustee praised PACE's post-incident work with families after a school-bus claim. Dallas said the carve-out for misconduct/abuse coverage offered multiple limits (the staff said they had qualified for a mid-tier option and cited approximate incremental costs) and that staff would send trustees the full renewal packet.

Superintendent (speaker 3) told the board the PACE renewal would be on the regular-meeting agenda Monday for a vote and invited any remaining questions ahead of that meeting.

What remains unclear or approximate: one cost line in the packet was spoken unclearly in the transcript; staff told the board they would circulate the full PDF and itemize exact final line-item costs before Monday's vote.

Next step: The board will vote on the PACE renewal at the district's regular meeting on Monday; staff will distribute the renewal packet and supporting calculations beforehand.