Date of Award

Spring 5-1-1978

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Leland D. Melvin

Second Advisor

Glen J. Brown

Third Advisor

Walter Sullins

Abstract

Purpose. This paper is a comprehensive collection of statutes of the fifty states relating to save harmless legislation and legislated authority for school corporations to purchase liability insurance for themselves and/or their officers and employees. These protective statutes have become necessary as the doctrine of governmental immunity for school corporations has slowly eroded. Not only can school corporations and their employees be held liable for damages resulting from tort, but for some offenses school board members can be held personally liable for damages to be paid from their own pockets. Procedures. The collection of statutes at the Indiana University Law Library in Bloomington was thoroughly searched in order to obtain the pertinent statutes of the fifty states. All cited court cases were Shepardized in the Indiana State University Library in Terre Haute. The final step to insure the accuracy of the study was to send letters to all the state Attorneys General and state chief school officers. These persons were informed as to the nature of the study and asked to provide the pertinent statutes of their particular states. Findings. Sixteen states were found to have permissive save harmless legislation relating to school officers, agents, or employees. All sixteen states provide permissive save harmless legislation for school employees while only thirteen states provide such for school boards or trustees. Mandatory save harmless legislation is provided in twenty-one states. In seventeen of these states the legislation applies to school district officers and employees alike, while the remaining four states have statutes which apply exclusively to school employees. Forty states were found to provide permissive liability insurance legislation for their school corporations, officers, or employees. Twenty-two of those states provide such legislation for their school corporations, school officers, and school employees alike. Nine states have permissive liability insurance statutes which apply only to school officers and employees but not to the corporate entity, while the statutes of seven states apply to the corporate entity and employees but not to the officers. Only one state was found which permitted liability insurance to be purchased for the school officers and the corporate entity but not for school employees. Eleven states provide mandatory liability insurance legislation for their school corporations, officers, or ememployees. Five states provide such legislation for school corporations, school officers, and school employees alike. Three states have mandatory statutes for school employees alone while two states provide such for school entities alone. Only one state provides for mandatory liability insurance for school employees and school corporations but not for school officers.

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