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Guilford County Schools officials who were rattled by the expensive relocation of Eastern Guilford High School students in 2006 and 2007 plan to spend 30 percent more on property insurance next school year.

They hope better insurance coverage will reduce what the district would have to spend in the event of another major school fire.

"We don't want to have another Eastern Guilford happen to us," said Wanda Frazier , the district's risk manager. "We want to make sure we look at the values and increase them."

The state awarded Guilford $17.6 million in damages for Eastern, and Guilford voters on Tuesday approved $45 million in bond funds to help rebuild the school.

The Board of Education learned at a budget meeting Wednesday that its finance officials have budgeted about $798,000 in premiums to cover $2 billion worth of buildings and contents. The amount is $184,000 more than was paid this fiscal year and 67 percent more than the district spent in 2006 when Eastern burned.

Frazier is evaluating insurance bids from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and Surry Insurance of Dobson. She plans to recommend the main insurance package to the school board within two weeks. Frazier is also researching supplemental coverage with different companies.

The district's insurance premiums typically increase to cover the opening of new schools. But officials increased the value of their buildings by 37 percent and their contents by 17 percent after adjusting for inflation, Frazier said.

The Department of Public Instruction has provided property insurance for Guilford County Schools for more than a decade because of its competitive rates. But the district found the state would not cover millions of dollars in relocation costs and building code changes.

The state department has since increased two of its limits to $1 million to help pay for those expenses.

Some members of the public have continued to question why the insurance proceeds did not fully cover Eastern's replacement costs. Part of the reason is that the school board decided to rebuild the school using a different blueprint.

Board Chairman Alan Duncan cautioned at Wednesday's budget meeting that no property insurance will cover all of the costs associated with the destruction of a school.

"The word 'replacement' should never be used, because you're not going to get a true replacement on any building this old," Duncan said, referring to Eastern.

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com