Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much does ACOE Student Teacher Membership cost? $25 for a 12 month membership.
2. Do ACOE Student Teacher members receive a discount on their membership fees once they become Certificated Classroom Teachers? YES, ACOE Student Teacher Members who graduate and accept a position with a school system will be granted a 50% discount off their first year fees as a Classroom Teacher Member, provided they upgrade the year following the year they were an ACOE Student Teacher Member. Discounted first year fees will be only $94.50.
3. Will ACOE Student Teacher Membership protect me once I become a Classroom Teacher? NO, Student Teacher Membership only protects you as a non-compensated Student Teacher. Once you accept a paid position, you will need to upgrade to an ACOE Classroom Teacher Membership.
4. Do ACOE Student Teachers have the same member benefits as ACOE Classroom Teachers? YES! ACOE Student Teacher Members have all of the member benefits that ACOE Classroom Teacher Members have, including $1 Million Educators Liability Insurance, discounts on goods and services, and other member benefits.
5. Does ACOE insurance protect me for something that happened before I joined ACOE? NO. You must have been a member at the time an event happened that resulted in litigation or disciplinary action being taken against you.
6. How long has ACOE been in existence? ACOE was created in 2001 as a 501c6 Professional Organization (not a 501c5 Labor Union). Many of our current members have been ACOE members since 2001.
7. Is ACOE a part of any national organization? No, ACOE is strictly an Alabama organization. ACOE is not a part of any national organization and does not contribute any funds to any national organization, political party, candidate, PAC, agenda or charity.
8. When I join ACOE, do I have to choose between Coverage A, B, and C insurance benefits? No, ACOE membership fees include Insurance Coverage A, B, and C.
9. Where are ACOE attorneys located? ACOE attorneys handling employment related, criminal/and or sexual misconduct cases (under Part B of the policy) are resident Alabama based attorneys. They are located in different cities across the state.
10. Are ACOE members required to pay attorney fees up-front and then get reimbursed? NO! An ACOE member may assign benefits to an attorney for covered claims (under Part B of the policy). The Company is thereby authorized to pay the attorney directly, so the member will not incur out of pocket or up front expense.
11. Are ACOE’s Liability Insurance and Attorney Fee Coverage benefits part of an insurance policy or are they a combination of an insurance policy and a trust fund? ACOE’s Liability Insurance and Attorney Fee Coverage benefits are part of our insurance policy and are not subject to committee approval as are parts of other organization’s coverage that consists of an insurance policy and a trust fund.
12. Is ACOE’s $1 Million Liability Insurance coverage reduced for liability cases involving the violation of someone’s civil rights? NO, ACOE’s $1 Million Liability coverage IS NOT reduced for issues involving Civil Rights violations as in some organization’s policies. Furthermore, under ACOE’s policy, defense costs are in addition to the $1 Million coverage for civil rights cases and are not included in the $ 1 Million limit.
13. Does ACOE offer discount programs for Student Teacher members? It is important to remember that Educators get an immediate discount of almost $300 in their membership fees when they join ACOE as compared to membership fees in other organizations (without having to buy anything else in order to save). We have negotiated many discount programs for our members and we are working on some additional ones. Additionally, several of the discounts that other organizations advertise as member benefits are available to ANY educator in Alabama (AT&T Mobile, Verizon Mobile, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, etc). Visit our website www.ACOE.us for more details.
14. How true is the information contained on some comparison charts other organizations have distributed comparing themselves with ACOE? The charts we have seen contain misleading information about ACOE. Some information on charts provided by representatives of a competing organization even contradicts the organization’s own official member guide. ACOE strives to be positive in our approach and truthful in our communications.