Teaching can be an endlessly rewarding career, but it’s not without risk. The good news is that liability insurance can protect you from the cost of common accidents you face in your line of work.
To take a closer look at what teacher liability insurance can cover, let’s follow several teachers to understand the types of incidents that could arise and how this policy could provide coverage.
Meet Dawn — a 4th-grade public school teacher. Dawn loves to find new ways to make learning fun and immersive for her students, so she’s always looking for the next big field trip opportunity.
Meet Stanley — a high school substitute teacher. Stanley hopes to land a full-time position at one of their schools soon, but is happy to get as much experience as he can while subbing in the meantime.
Meet Kara — a middle school band teacher. Kara splits her time between two different schools in the district and often transports instruments between both jobs.
Meet Gus — a high school private school teacher. Gus has 30 years of teaching experience and is still passionate about helping students understand difficult concepts and push themselves to new heights. He often stays late to help students with homework and projects.
What Can Liability Insurance for Teachers Cover?
The following incidents Dawn, Stanley, Kara, and Gus experienced can all be covered by teaching liability insurance. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it does include some of the most common claims you could face in your line of work.
Please note that all policies have exclusions, and you should always refer to your policy for exact verbiage.
Bodily Injuries to Others
While on an extracurricular after-school field trip with students at a local museum, one of Dawn’s students trips and breaks his wrist. His parents threaten to sue Dawn for negligence, claiming she wasn’t paying close enough attention to him at the time.
Estimated cost: $1,500
Covered by: General liability (can cover bodily injuries to another person, as well as Dawn’s legal expenses if the parents had followed through on their lawsuit)
Damage to Others’ Property
As part of their science curriculum, Dawn has her students build model volcanoes in class that actually spew “lava” made of baking soda and vinegar. For a dash of realism, she has them add red food coloring to the mixture.
However, things get messy fast, and before she knows it, there’s red dye all over the carpet in her classroom. Dawn’s school asks her to pay to replace the old carpet.
Estimated cost: $2,650
Covered by: General liability (can cover damage to other people’s property, such as the cost to repair or replace it)
Broken, Damaged, or Stolen Teaching Gear
Because one of the schools she teaches at doesn’t have a large selection of musical instruments, Kara packs up her car with a few of her own before heading over. On the way there, another vehicle collides with hers.
Thankfully, Kara makes it out of the accident mostly unscathed, but her acoustic guitars in the trunk are bent and broken beyond repair. She will need to replace all of them.
Estimated cost: $3,000
Covered by: Equipment and materials (aka inland marine, which can cover the cost of replacing Kara’s broken instruments)
Tech Issues
While searching for worksheet downloads online, Gus comes across a site that looks a little sketchy, but he figures it’s probably just old. Unfortunately, the link he clicked to download some PDFs installed ransomware on his computer.
As a result, he’s unable to access any of his lesson plans or gradebook — a bit of a problem, considering the end of the semester is this Friday.
Estimated cost: $50,000
Covered by: Cyber liability (designed to cover the cost of recovering stolen data)
Defamatory Comments
Stanley has subbed at many schools, and not all of them have been good experiences. One night, while browsing a popular online forum for teachers, he comes across a thread where people are sharing their worst teaching experiences. He chimes in with his own bad experience, naming the school he believes treated him unfairly.
The thread becomes popular, and the news gets back to the school about what Stanley accused them of. The school sues Stanley for defamation, claiming he fabricated his negative experience with them.
Estimated cost: $40,000
Covered by: Personal and advertising injury (designed to cover legal expenses you face if sued for defamation
False Accusations of Misconduct
Kara learns that the parents of one of her students are accusing her of misconduct with their child. She had recently met with the student after class to offer encouragement and support, but the student misinterpreted her meaning.
Estimated cost: $150,000
Covered by: Sexual abuse and misconduct (aka SAM coverage, which could cover Kara’s legal expenses to defend herself against this false accusation)
Poor or Faulty Instruction
Gus teaches an Advanced Placement (AP) course, which his students (and their parents) take very seriously. He does all he can to prepare them for the AP test, but when one of his students fails, she tells her parents that Gus didn’t adequately prepare her for the structure of the test.
The student’s parents sue Gus, claiming he didn’t fulfill his role as an AP teacher and that their daughter could’ve passed the test had she known more about how it was structured.
Estimated cost: $75,000
Covered by: Professional liability (can cover the legal expenses Gus faces defending himself in court, as well as a settlement or judgment)
Additional Insureds
Stanley lands a long-term substitute gig with a public school. The school asks Stanley to add them to his liability insurance policy to shield them from any accidents he causes.
Covered by: Additional insured endorsement (extends your liability coverage to specific people or institutions you name on your policy, such as a school)
Why Teacher Insurance Is a Must-Have
In the examples we covered, it’s clear that teachers need their own insurance. Your school’s insurance policy won’t always cover you, and the cost of claims can be a huge financial burden.
Insurance might feel like another expense you have to account for on a never-ending list. In reality, it’s an investment in your financial and career security.
Insurance Canopy’s teacher liability insurance starts as low as $21.08 per month for a year’s worth of coverage. That number is a mere fraction of the cost you could face in out-of-pocket costs without coverage.
When you get a base teacher liability policy from Insurance Canopy, it includes the following coverages:
- General liability
- Professional liability
- Damage to premises rented to you
- Products-completed operations
- Personal and advertising injury
- Free, unlimited additional insureds
You also have the option to include the following optional add-ons for more coverage:
- Cyber liability
- Sexual abuse and molestation
- Equipment and materials (inland marine)
FAQs About What Teaching Liability Insurance Covers
Does teacher liability insurance cover student injuries in the classroom?
Yes! If a student gets injured in your classroom and you are held responsible, teacher liability insurance can cover the cost of their medical bills and any legal fees you face if they or their parents sue you.
It can also cover injuries that occur outside of the classroom, such as if you’re tutoring a student at the local library or taking your students on a field trip.
What’s the difference between teacher liability insurance and insurance offered by my school?
Your school’s insurance policy is primarily designed to cover them, whereas teacher liability insurance is there to protect you. While you may get some coverage from your school’s policy, it usually won’t cover incidents that happen outside of normal school hours or off-campus.
Learn more about what school insurance doesn’t cover.
JoAnne Hammer | Program Manager
JoAnne Hammer is the Program Manager for Insurance Canopy. She has held the prestigious Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation since July 2004.
JoAnne understands that starting and operating a business takes a tremendous amount of time, dedication, and financial resources. She believes that insurance is the single best way to protect your investment, business, and personal assets.
JoAnne Hammer is the Program Manager for Insurance Canopy. She has held the prestigious Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation since July 2004.
JoAnne understands that starting and operating a business takes a tremendous amount of time, dedication, and financial resources. She believes that insurance is the single best way to protect your investment, business, and personal assets.
