Content area
Full text
The charter school movement, which began in 1990 with the idea that the exclusive franchise of the public school system had failed many students, has become a significant presence in the U.S. educational system. More than two thousand schools, with more than four hundred thousand students, operate under various types of charters in thirty-eight states. These schools are publicly funded, with charters granted by state boards of education, universities and colleges, and local school boards. Charter schools are strictly supervised and held to high levels of accountability: A school's charter can be revoked if it does not live up to the original stipulations of its charter.
Most of the risk management and insurance issues facing charter schools are the same that traditional public schools face: risk assessment, teacher screening, liability insurance for Parent Teacher Organizations, medical and benefits insurance, design of 403B plans and premises security. But because charters generally fall outside the system that provides risk management and insurance services to traditional public schools, there is a particular need...