Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 11 > Chapter 25 > Subchapter 1 - General Provisions

• Accredited: means accredited by any regional, national, or programmatic institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U. See
• Adult education and literacy: means a program of public education adapted to the needs of persons who are beyond compulsory school age, and who have not completed high school education. See
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Agency of Education: means the Secretary and staff necessary to carry out the functions of the Agency. See
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Annual meeting: when applied to towns shall mean the annual town meeting in March or an adjournment thereof. See
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Approved independent school: means an independent school that is approved under section 166 of this title. See
• Articles of organization: means initial, amended, and restated articles of organization and articles of merger. See
• between: as used in this title in respect to a specified age of a student, shall mean the period of time commencing on the birthday of the child when he or she becomes the age first specified and ending on the day next preceding the birthday of the child when he or she becomes the age last specified. See
• biennially: shall mean the year in which a regular session of the General Assembly is held. See
• Bullying: means any overt act or combination of acts, including an act conducted by electronic means, directed against a student by another student or group of students and that:

• Business: includes every trade, occupation, profession, and other lawful purpose, whether or not carried on for profit. See
• comprehensive health education: means a systematic and extensive elementary and secondary educational program designed to provide a variety of learning experiences based upon knowledge of the human organism as it functions within its environment. See
• 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.
• Criminal record: means the record of:

• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Degree: means any award that is given by a postsecondary school for completion of a program or course and that is designated by the term degree, associate, bachelor, baccalaureate, master's, or doctorate, or any similar award that the State Board includes by rule. See
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Designated office: means the office of a limited liability company designated pursuant to section 4007 of this title or the principal office of a foreign limited liability company. See
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Dissolution: means an event under section 4101 of this title which requires a limited liability company to wind up its affairs and to terminate its existence as a legal entity. See
• Distribution: means a transfer of money or property from a limited liability company to a member in the member's capacity as a member or to a transferee of the member's distributional interest. See
• Distributional interest: means the right of a member or transferee to receive a distribution from a limited liability company. See
• Document: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See
• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, company, association, or copartnership shall mean organized under the laws of this State; "foreign" when so applied, shall mean organized under the laws of another state, government, or country. See
• Electorate: means the qualified voters in a school district voting at a properly warned school district meeting. See
• Elementary education: means a program of public school education adapted to the needs of students in prekindergarten, kindergarten, and the first six grades. See
• Entity: means a person other than an individual. See
• 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.
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Foreign limited liability company: means an unincorporated entity organized under laws, other than the laws of this State, which afford limited liability to its owners comparable to the liability under section 4042 of this title. See
• gender identity: means an individual's actual or perceived gender identity, or gender-related characteristics intrinsically related to an individual's gender or gender-identity, regardless of the individual's assigned sex at birth. See
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grades: means the division of the educational work of the public schools into 13 school year units beginning with kindergarten and thereafter numbered from one to 12 beginning with the lowest. See
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Harassment: includes conduct that violates subdivision (A) of this subdivision (26) and constitutes one or more of the following:

• Hazing: means any act committed by a person, whether individually or in concert with others, against a student in connection with pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in any organization that is affiliated with an educational institution; and that is intended to have the effect of, or should reasonably be expected to have the effect of, humiliating, intimidating, or demeaning the student or endangering the mental or physical health of a student. See
• Home study program: means an educational program offered through home study that provides a minimum course of study and that is offered to not more than:

• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Independent school: means a school other than a public school, which provides a program of elementary or secondary education, or both. See
• independent school meeting education quality standards: means an independent school in Vermont that undergoes the education quality standards process and meets the requirements of subsection 165(b) of this title. See
• 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.
• Justice: when applied to a person, other than a Justice of the Supreme Court, shall mean a justice of the peace for the county for which he or she is elected or appointed. See
• Kindergarten: means an educational program for children of one year adapted to the needs of students who will attend first grade the following year. See
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• low-profit limited liability company: means a limited liability company that elects to be a low-profit limited liability company pursuant to section 4161 of this title and meets the requirements of section 4162 of this title. See
• Manager: means a person that under the operating agreement of a manager-managed limited liability company is responsible, alone or in concert with others, for performing the management functions stated in subsection 4054(c) of this title. See
• Manager-managed limited liability company: means a limited liability company that qualifies under subsection 4054(a) of this title. See
• Media adviser: means an individual employed, appointed, or designated by a school or its governing body to supervise or provide instruction relating to school-sponsored media. See
• Member: means a person that has become a member of a limited liability company under section 4051 of this title and has not dissociated under section 4081 of this title. See
• Member-managed limited liability company: means a limited liability company that is not a manager-managed limited liability company. See
• Month: shall mean a calendar month and "year" shall mean a calendar year and be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: shall include affirmation where by law an affirmation may be substituted. See
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Offer: includes the use in the name of an institution or in its promotional material of a term such as "college" "university" or "institute" that is intended to indicate that it is an institution that offers postsecondary education. See
• Operate: means to establish, keep, or maintain any facility or location from or through which education is offered or given, or educational degrees are offered or granted. See
• Operating agreement: means any form of description of membership rights and obligations under section 4003 of this title, stored or depicted in any tangible or electronic medium, which is agreed to by the members, including amendments to the agreement. See
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Periodic released time: means time, occurring at least once weekly, during which public school students are released from school to attend religious education courses sponsored by and given under the authority of a religious group. See
• Periodic released time religious education course: means a course offered by a religious group during periodic released time. See
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Postsecondary school: means any person who offers or operates a program of college or professional education for credit or a degree and enrolls or intends to enroll students. See
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• prekindergarten education: means services designed to provide developmentally appropriate early development and learning experiences based on Vermont's early learning standards to children who are three to four years of age and to five-year-old children who are not eligible for or enrolled in kindergarten. See
• Public school: means an elementary school or secondary school operated by a school district. See
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Religious group: means any association of persons for religious purposes, including any organization of religious denominations, communions, or traditions. See
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• said: when used by way of reference to a person or thing shall apply to the same person or thing last mentioned. See
• School: means a public postsecondary school operating in the State. See
• School board: means the board of school directors elected to manage the schools of a school district, the prudential committee of an incorporated school district, the supervisory union board of directors, and the supervisors of unorganized towns and gores. See
• School board: means the board of school directors of a school district or its equivalent in any independent school. See
• School district: means town school districts, union school districts, interstate school districts, city school districts, unified union districts, and incorporated school districts, each of which is governed by a publicly elected board. See
• School district: means , unless the context otherwise clearly requires, a school district or a supervisory union. See
• School district meeting: means a duly warned meeting of a school district at which questions are presented to the electorate. See
• School officers: shall include all persons, other than teachers, who have to do with matters pertaining to public schools. See
• School year: means the year beginning July 1 and ending the next June 30. See
• School-sponsored media: means any material that is prepared, written, published, or broadcast as part of a school-supported program or activity by a student journalist and is distributed or generally made available as part of a school-supported program or activity to an audience beyond the classroom in which the material is produced. See
• seal: shall include an impression of the official seal made upon paper alone or by means of a wafer or wax affixed thereto. See
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Education. See
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• sexual orientation: means female or male homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• State Board: means the State Board of Education established by chapter 3 of this title. See
• State-placed student: means :

• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Student journalist: means a student enrolled at a school who gathers, compiles, writes, edits, photographs, records, or prepares information for dissemination in school-sponsored media. See
• Superintendent: means the chief executive officer of a supervisory union and each school board within it. See
• Supervisory district: means a supervisory union that consists of only one school district, which may be a unified union district. See
• Supervisory union: means an administrative, planning, and educational service unit created by the State Board under section 261 of this title, that consists of two or more school districts; if the context clearly allows, the term also means a supervisory district. See
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
• Transfer: includes an assignment, a conveyance, a sale, a lease, an encumbrance, including a mortgage or security interest, a gift, and a transfer by operation of law. See
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Tutorial program: means education provided to a student who is placed in a short-term program for evaluation and treatment purposes. See
• Unsupervised: means not in the presence of a responsible adult in the employ of or under the direction of the independent school or school district. See
• User agreement: means an agreement between the Vermont Crime Information Center and a party requesting and receiving criminal record information that requires the party to comply with all federal and State laws, rules, regulations, and policies regulating the release of criminal record information and the protection of individual privacy. See
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writing: means a written communication, including a letter, fax, e-mail, or other electronic format that may be prescribed by the Secretary of State. See