Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 48 > Chapter 9 > Article 1 - General Provisions

• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Natural Resources. See South Carolina Code 48-9-15
• Department: means the State Department of Education. See South Carolina Code 59-18-120
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the administrative head of the department appointed by the board. See South Carolina Code 48-9-15
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Division: means the Land, Water, and Conservation Division of the Department of Natural Resources. See South Carolina Code 48-9-15
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Longitudinally matched student data: means examining the performance of a single student or a group of students by considering their test scores over time. See South Carolina Code 59-18-120
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Oversight Committee: means the Education Oversight Committee established in § 59-6-10. See South Carolina Code 59-18-120
• Performance rating: means the classification a school will receive based on the percentage of students meeting standard on the state's standards-based assessment, student growth or student progress from one school year to the next, graduation rates, and other indicators as determined by federal guidelines and the Education Oversight Committee, as applicable. See South Carolina Code 59-18-120
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Turnaround plan: means a plan outlining goals for a school or district's educational improvement that includes specific strategies designed to increase student achievement and measures to evaluate the success of the implementation of the plan so that the school or district is no longer underperforming or chronically underperforming. See South Carolina Code 59-18-1615
• Underperforming school: means :
  
  (a) a school that receives an overall rating of unsatisfactory or below average on its annual school report card, as provided in § 59-18-900; or
  
  (b) in the absence of the annual school report card, the Department of Education shall apply the same metrics as established in the state and federal combined accountability model, as defined in the Every Students Succeed Act to identify "underperforming schools". See South Carolina Code 59-18-1615