PAISD renews property insurance
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

The Port Aransas Independent School District is renewing its insurance policy with Texas School Cooperative, a government consortium.

The PAISD Board of Trustees voted on Tuesday, Oct. 16, to go with Texas Schools Cooperative, turning down a bid by GSM, a private firm with an office in Port Aransas. The vote was 6-0. Trustee Rita Reed was absent.

GSM offered two quotes, one of them a pool quote. Trustees steered away from the pool quote partly because it had a high property insurance deductible -- $25,000 -- for each claim, said Billy Wiggins, superintendent of PAISD. Texas Schools Cooperative had a deductible of only $1,000 for general property damage, he said.

Trustees also preferred the Texas Schools Cooperative because it had blanket coverage, while GSM would not insure some of the district's property for a full 100 percent of its value, district officials said.

PAISD will pay Texas Schools Cooperative a premium of $140,695 for coverage to last one year. That's down $15,619 from last year's premium. It takes effect Nov. 1.

The coverage will cover everything from hurricanes to fire and not only includes buildings and all their contents but also the school district's vehicles.