Publication Date

1963

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Yankow, Henry G.||Thistlethwaite, Robert L.||File, Clinton M.||Oosting, Bernard R.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Business Administration

LCSH

Insurance; School management and organization--Illinois

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this investigation was to review and develop suggested ideal specifications for the competitive bidding and purchasing of school insurance. These ideal specifications should make the job of purchasing insurance easier for public school business managers. The ensuing types of insurance specifications were taken into consideration: 1. Builders Risk Insurance 2. Inland Marine Scheduled Property Floater Insurance 3. Malpractice or Professional Liability Insurance 4. Group Life Insurance 5. Major Medical Insurance. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: 1. To determine whether good sets of specifications exist. 2. To analyse the number of school districts in Illinois that bid: a. Builders Risk Insurance b. Inland Marine Scheduled Property Floater Insurance c. Malpractice or Professional Liability Insurance d. Group Life Insurance e. Major Medical Insurance. 3. To determine how many schools in Illinois have bid for contracts in the past ten years. 4. To determine how a panel of exports can be selected to judge the quality and completeness of the specifications. 5. To analyse and determine which of the insurance companies, including stock, mutual, and reciprocals, will review and give constructive criticism in the development of the ideal specifications. 6. To obtain specimens of the bid specifications of: a. Builders Risk Insurance b. Inland Marine Scheduled Property Floater Insurance c. Malpractice or Professional Liability Insurance d. Group Life Insurance e. Major Medical Insurance. PROCEDURE: The data for this study came from three major sources: (a) reference materials, (b) survey of insurance policies, and (e) a questionnaire survey. SURVEY OF THE CURRENT TRENDS OF ILLINOIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS INSURANCE BIDDING PRACTICES: The questionnaire was sent to 104 school districts in Illinois and returned by 82, all of which were used in this research. Of the 82 reporting school districts 26 bid one or more types of insurance studied by the investigator. The order of frequency in bidding the five investigated coverages revealed the following sequence: 1. Inland Marine 2. Malpractice or Professional Liability 3. Major Medical 4. Group life. Builders Risk Insurance is not included because no specifications apparently had been written for this coverage. The responsibility for preparing the bid specifications as revealed by the questionnaire denotes that in Illinois 69 per cent of the reporting business officials who bid insurance prepare their own bid specifications. Eighty-five per cent of the "bidding" school business officials would continue the same practice if given a free choice. Fifteen per cent preferred to submit the handling of the school insurance program to an insurance broker. Eighteen per cent of the "non-bidders," if given a free choice in selecting the method of obtaining insurance for the school district, chose the insurance broker. One hundred per cent of the business officials in Illinois that bid insurance ware pleased with the coverage and with the savings. Twenty-seven per cent of the same business officials felt that the insurance company that gave the lowest bid gave average service. Seventy-three per cent thought the service was excellent. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In recent years school boards have increased insurance coverages on school property, and, in the area of fringe benefits, are beginning to participate in group life and major medical insurance for the teachers. Illinois school districts need to be made aware of the competitiveness of the insurance companies in the United States and the resultant economy of bidding. Questionnaire returns from "bidding" business officials report savings of 10 to 40 per cent. Until recent years some of the insurance premiums covering the protection of our schools were not carefully scrutinized, resulting in needless spending of public funds. School insurance presents many growing complexities which are not comprehended by the average superintendent or business manager. Specification forms will be found useful for school business officials either for bidding insurance or for understanding the coverages provided by various insurance policies.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

x, 113 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

Download

Share

COinS