An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! Accidents can happen to you and to the students and other individuals you come into contact with each day while working in the schools. Teacher candidates are not employees of the school system where they are placed and thus are not provided any medical, accidental, or workman’s compensation insurance by the school. Keep in mind that financial penalties can be extreme particularly when public school students are injured as a result of a teacher candidate’s negligent acts or omissions regardless of the intent or effort.

While the chances are small that you will be involved in an accident at school or be sued by parents because of your actions in the classroom with their child, all teacher candidates admitted to the teacher education program are required to obtain personal liability insurance coverage of not less than $1,000,000. This requirement may be met through one of the options below.

Insurance Options

Option 1: Teacher candidates who own a home may add a personal liability umbrella policy to their home owner’s policy. Once added, teacher candidates would receive a declaration page from their insurance company and a copy of this document would serve as proof of coverage.

Option 2: Teacher candidates may obtain personal liability insurance coverage through the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE). Nearing 40 years of dedicated service and support, GAE provides free legal representation as well as $1,000,000 in liability insurance per occurrence to its members. Serving over 40,000 educators in Georgia, GAE provides professional development workshops, a government relations department that fights laws and policies that might affect your profession, your classroom, and your standards, and costs teacher candidates only $12 for two years or $18 for three years. A copy of your membership card would serve as proof of your coverage. See: http://gae1.org/ for more information about benefits.

Option 3: Teacher candidates may obtain personal liability insurance coverage through Student Professional Association of Georgia Educators (SPAGE). SPAGE is the student organization within PAGE, the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. With more than 75,000 members statewide including 10,000 students from 41 institutions in Georgia, SPAGE provides publications, GACE workshops, access to PAGE legal services, accidental death insurance, scholarships, and more. Providing $1,000,000 of liability coverage, SPAGE costs teacher candidates only $12 for two years or $18 for three years. A copy of your membership card would serve as proof of your coverage. See http://www.ciclt.net/pagefoundation/spage/join.html for more information about benefits.

Option 4: A number of professional organizations related to teaching and education offer low cost liability insurance to its members. If you have membership in an organization that offers tort liability insurance, indicate so on the declaration form that follows and provide a copy of your current membership card.
[Membership applications for GAE and SPAGE are also available in the Department of Education and Teacher Preparation located in the Coffin Building.]

Verification of Liability Insurance Form