The cost for liability insurance for Timothy Davis\u2019s preschool has gone from about $25,000 a year in 2021 to $70,000 this year. The sharp increase has strained Davis\u2019 budget \u2014 and his classrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt best, you\u2019re at a stalemate. You can\u2019t give yearly raises. You can\u2019t make yearly improvements. You want to hire an extra teacher, but now you can\u2019t,\u201d said Davis, owner of Park Avenue Preschool & Child Care Center in Seminole County, which serves about 400 students. \u201cIt\u2019s very scary. The insurance companies dictate the price. And they can charge whatever the hell they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liability insurance costs for childcare centers are on the rise across the country. Industry experts blame the spike on an increasing number of claims filed against them, though they aren\u2019t sure what is prompting more people to say they were injured at daycares and argue they need compensation. With more claims, insurance companies are paying out more in settlements and then passing their higher costs onto the centers by charging higher premiums.<\/p>\n
Some providers warn the escalating costs could drive them out of business.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sad that they\u2019re being handcuffed and ultimately have to reduce care, reduce services, because their insurance costs are rising,\u201d said Matt Ostrander, president of Ostrander Risk Partners, a Winter Park insurance agency. \u201cFor some reason this industry has been targeted, which is incredibly unfortunate because these are the places that are shaping the future of America.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Florida, a childcare center is required to have liability insurance if it accepts state funding, and most do, taking part in Florida\u2019s Voluntary Prekindergarten Program, its subsidized childcare program or both.<\/p>\n
Centers that serve more affluent families can offset higher insurance costs by raising tuition. But those serving lower-income populations, like Davis\u2019s preschool, say their families cannot afford to pay more and need childcare so they can work.<\/p>\n
A 2024 survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children found that 80% of preschools nationwide had a rate increase in their liability insurance in the last year, on average up by nearly $2,000. And 62% of preschools reported difficulty affording or finding insurance.<\/p>\n
Nearly all the providers surveyed said if they could not find affordable insurance they would have to reduce their services.<\/p>\n
Many childcare centers operate on thin margins, so skyrocketing insurance costs have hit hard, and even a $2,000 annual increase can be difficult to absorb.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the kind of business that people invest in and then, you know, sit back and watch the money roll in. People who are owners end up driving the bus and making lunches and answering the phone because they can\u2019t afford not to,\u201d said Jennifer Grant, CEO of the Early Learning Coalition of Seminole County, which administers the state funding for the area\u2019s childcare centers.<\/p>\n
![\"Volunteer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/TOS-L-preschool-liability_0445f-2.jpg\")
Volunteer preschool teacher Jenn Manak works with 4-year-olds Jayden Le and Olivia Durham during a lesson at Winter Park Day Nursery, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. Childcare centers and preschools have been experiencing a dramatic increase in liability insurance costs over the last few years. Manak is an education professor at Rollins College. (Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
The claims come when a staff member or parents of a child say an injury occurred at the childcare center and file with the school\u2019s insurance company. The insurer can then pay out damages, or if it determines the school is not at fault, deny the claim. But if a claim is denied, a parent or staff member can sue and the insurer risks having to pay legal costs on top of damages.<\/p>\n
Davis had three claims filed against his school in the past four years. In two instances, teachers filed so-called slip-and-fall claims. In another, a parent alleged that a teacher pushed their child. Davis did not believe any of the claims had merit, but his insurance company paid settlements for each one. Then it raised his premiums.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d rather write a check for a $5,000 or $10,000 claim as opposed to taking a chance of going to civil court and losing and having to pay for an attorney to litigate it,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
Ostrander, whose agency insures 1,200 daycares statewide, said scenarios like Davis\u2019s are a growing problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, that\u2019s very typical. Even with hard evidence that it wasn\u2019t the provider\u2019s fault, due to litigation costs, it\u2019s often less expensive for the insurance company to just settle. Which, in my opinion, only makes the target bigger,\u201d Ostrander said.<\/p>\n
And insurance companies are increasingly pulling out of the market because it has become too risky, Ostrander said.\u00a0\u201cWhen a child is involved in an insurance claim, no matter what the circumstance is, it\u2019s going to mean a significant loss for the insurance company,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Premium increases are not limited to centers that had claims. Winter Park Day Nursery has had no claims and its annual insurance premium went from $9,113 in 2020 to $30,529 in 2025.<\/p>\n
The center has private donors and other funding that allow it to absorb the increase, said Ali DeMaria, executive director for the center.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/TOS-L-preschool-liability_0742f-2.jpg\")
The 4-year-olds class gather for a group photo at Winter Park Day Nursery, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. Childcare centers and preschools have been experiencing a dramatic increase in liability insurance costs over the last few years. (Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
Kim\u00a0Vukelja owns Imagination Station Montessori, a preschool in Daytona Beach. In the last three years, her liability insurance went from $3,800 a year to $12,000, though she never faced a claim.<\/p>\n
Her school serves a well-off population and so she can raise tuition to make up for that cost. But she has friends in the industry whose schools serve low-income families, and they are struggling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know other providers, they won\u2019t even take kids out in the playground because they\u2019re so afraid of all the liability issues,\u201d Vukelja said.<\/p>\n
Adam Balls, vice president for World Risk Management, an Orlando insurance agency, said he works with plenty of childcare centers facing those challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge pain point and a major concern. We\u2019re seeing anywhere from 50 to 200% increases, depending on what the circumstances are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Childcare centers are vulnerable to liability claims because theirs is a business involving children and one with an often low-paid staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so you have staff coming and going. Staff maybe aren\u2019t trained on a level that everybody would like them to be,\u201d Ball said. \u201cAnd when something goes sideways, or a parent thinks something goes sideways, claims aren\u2019t cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda Hill owns Trinity Academy & Preschool in Daytona, up the road from Vukelja\u2019s school, which was licensed by the state to enroll 76 children. Last year, when she renewed her insurance, she was notified that her $3,000 yearly premium was doubling to $6,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was too much. I couldn\u2019t do it. It was ridiculous,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n
Since the premium is based on the number of children approved on her state license, her broker advised her that she could avoid the rate increase by reducing her capacity. Since her attendance was down anyway, she had the state drop her capacity to 40 kids.<\/p>\n
But with lower attendance and rising costs, Hill said she is not sure how long she\u2019ll be in business. If she has a claim on her insurance or if her landlord raises her rent, she will likely have to close.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to hang in here,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cost for liability insurance for Timothy Davis\u2019s preschool has gone from about $25,000 a year in 2021…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[113,114,266,115,139,141,140,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-15492","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-education","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-headlines","14":"tag-orlando-news","15":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}