Coverage - Property

Ultraviolet (UV) light boasts a strong track against a laundy list of viruses. Find out what you should consider before investing in UV to control the spread of COVID-19.

Between buildings, facilities, and equipment, your school district or community college has plenty of property to keep track of. The TASB Risk Management Fund helps provide peace of mind by covering your buildings and everything inside them—plumbing, roofing, HVAC, and other facilities and equipment. Read on to learn about typical sources of property damage, ways to manage them, and how to get coverage from the Fund.

Electrical surges are the immediate and main lightning-related risk to your facilities. A surge protection system helps protect your investements by diverting high-current surges so they bypass valuable equipment.

Any discussion of protecting your organization’s property against risk might seem unnecessary right now. After all, between the coronavirus and summer break, many of your facilities will remain sparsely or entirely empty for the foreseeable future. The longer they stay that way, the greater the chance you could absorb unbudgeted expenses.

Because of the changes brought about by COVID-19, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) has temporarily suspended boiler inspection requirements.  At this time, a boiler certificate that expires between March 13, 2020 and May 31, 2020, will not be penalized for lack of reinspection or certificate renewal before the expiration date. 

We cannot prevent tornadoes, but we can prepare for them. Here are our best tips to prepare for and respond to a tarnado.

Hail has caused extensive property damage in Texas over the past several years, impacting school districts and other educational entities. According to Hail Alert Technologies, more than half of losses from hail damage are undiscovered and unreported. Damage can begin as a small fracture and evolve into interior leaks and further destruction. Hail is one of the most expensive forms of severe weather in claims costs. Learn what you can do to protect your organization’s property and funds.

Mother Nature can be unruly at times, especially during spring storm season. But you don’t have to be caught unprepared. When a storm causes damage to your property, our goal is to help you get your students back in the classroom and your operations back to normal.

If you are reading this blog post in your office, the library, or another campus facility, take a quick look around. The floors, walls, windows, and doors cost money. Same goes for the desks, chairs, computers, and lights. But if you want to know where the lion’s share of budget dollars went, look up.

This is the third in a series of articles to bring awareness about the property market conditions that can impact costs associated with your insurance or risk management coverage. 

Insurance is designed to protect against the financial loss associated with risk, usually in the form of a contract or policy. When something bad happens and there are damages associated with it, insurance may be used to cover those costs. Insurance companies and risk pools like the TASB Risk Management Fund take on the risk of their clients and members. However, insurance companies and risk pools can only assume so much risk. There comes a point that insurance companies and risk pools need to purchase their own insurance—this is called reinsurance.

Members of the Fund and the Texas Municipal League (TML) Intergovernmental Risk Pool joined us for a panel-driven discussion September 12 at Dollars and Sense: A Roof Summit. With severe weather being one of the top global risks in the United States and with Texas being the leading state for hail, it is important to consider roofs an investment in the sustainability of your buildings.

This is the first in a series of articles to bring awareness about the property market conditions that can impact costs associated with your insurance or risk management coverage.On August 11, 2019, the city of Molts, Montana experienced over 70 mph winds with three-inch diameter hail. This caused havoc for homeowners and surrounding populations of migrating birds. So, why does this matter for Texas schools? No matter where they occur, weather events influence the property insurance market, which eventually impacts businesses, homeowners, and local governments, including school districts.

Over the past five years, the TASB Risk Management Fund (Fund) has paid more than $210 million in weather-related property claims, $180 million of which was due to wind and hail damage. The Fund is not alone—weather claims have severely impacted all types of organizations across Texas in recent years. As a result, property coverage deductibles and rates have risen sharply in recent years. In the past, $10,000 wind/hail deductibles were the norm, but today it is common to see six-figure deductibles. Some carriers even require percentage-based deductibles as high as five percent.

Establishing a preventative roof maintenance program is the responsible thing to do from a fiscal and safety perspective. Here's why.

Members who have property coverage through the Fund have Equipment Breakdown coverage at no additional cost. This coverage is provided through our partners at Hartford Steam Boiler.

Hurricane Harvey hit the coast of Texas, caused damaging winds, storm surge, tornadoes, and rain that impacted Fund members and many others.