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Board overseeing Wisc's for-profit schools fights for its life [EAB looks like a shakedown outfit]
Wisconsin Watch ^ | March 29, 2015 | Madeleine Behr and Kate Golden

Posted on 03/29/2015 2:43:34 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

David Dies fears that if Gov. Scott Walker succeeds in eliminating the Wisconsin Educational Approval Board, the for-profit schools it oversees will ramp up practices that could harm students.

“If you basically throw the rule book out, I can guarantee you that they will take advantage of their ability to market and recruit as aggressively as possible,” said Dies, the board’s executive secretary.

The proposal to eliminate the EAB is part of Walker’s proposed 2015-17 budget. Since its unveiling in February, Dies has been trying to persuade state lawmakers to reject the idea.

Dies said his small agency is already “outmatched” by the private, for-profit colleges it oversees. Behemoths like the University of Phoenix and Globe University are a far cry from the mom-and-pop schools that dominated the sector 20 years ago.

Walker believes dumping the EAB will “benefit schools by eliminating a costly and unnecessary regulatory burden,” according to his spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick.

But Dies said his agency does not in fact cost the state money — its operations are funded by fees to the schools — and that the “vast majority” of schools do not support the agency’s demise.

“Almost every institution is confused as to why we would want to do this,” Dies said. “The EAB oversight really provides some legitimacy and integrity for the sector.”

In a position paper detailing his views, Dies wrote that Walker’s budget proposal would leave Wisconsin as “the only state in the nation without any meaningful oversight for private postsecondary education institutions.”

Wisconsin Sen. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, who serves on the Senate education committee, is still mulling whether or not to support the proposal, said his spokesman Mike Mikalsen.

“We think the EAB does some very important stuff, but we have some concerns about how the EAB carries out its business,” Mikalsen said. He cited a 2012 proposal to require schools to graduate at least 60 percent of their students as an example of the board being too “aggressive.”

Dies said the proposal, which matched national accreditors’ standards, was intended “as a starting point to having a conversation,” but died in the face of resistance from legislators and schools.

Colleges have drawn criticism

The Wisconsin Educational Approval Board oversees 252 for-profit and certain nonprofit postsecondary schools, enrolling about 60,000 students. Outside its jurisdiction are the UW System and technical, religious and recreational schools.

For-profit schools that seek approval from the EAB must pay fees, submit detailed information about their finances, enrollment and programs, and have a student complaint process.

Walker’s proposal would eliminate the seven-member board and its six full-time and one part-time staff positions, as well as its $605,000 annual budget.

Its remaining responsibilities would be divided between the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the Department of Financial Institutions and Professional Services, newly created in the budget.

“This proposal is part of the governor’s overall goal to streamline state government to make it more efficient, more effective, and more accountable,” Patrick said.

For-profit colleges have come under growing scrutiny in recent years, accused of aggressive, misleading marketing, selling worthless degrees and leaving students with debts they cannot pay.

A 2010 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that recruiters lied to its undercover agents at all 15 campuses it investigated. Colleges were hit by lawsuits and U.S. Senate hearings, CEOs were called onto the carpet by their accreditors, and the U.S. Department of Education came out with a package of federal standards designed to prevent problems.

States have faced criticism from national and local education experts for failing to thoroughly review schools operating within their borders.

“Lax state oversight must end,” said the nonprofit National Consumer Law Center in a 2014 report, which recommended states avoid relying on “accreditation as a substitute for oversight.”

Dies said he has long asked for more resources. The agency lacks in-house counsel despite a near-constant need for legal advice, and the staff is hard pressed in dealing with giant for-profits.

“When you come into a meeting, they have three to four attorneys across the table,” Dies said. “That’s where it gets difficult, because they look at us and say, ‘Who are these guys telling us how to improve our business model?’ ”

The increase in online schools poses a problem, as some have failed to seek state licensure before enrolling Wisconsin students. The EAB can “barely get to the schools and approve the schools that we’re responsible for now,” even with the addition of a full-time and part-time staffer in 2012, Dies said.

But he maintains the agency has still been able to help students. When Anthem College closed its Brookfield campus in August 2014 — displacing 150 students— the EAB helped move equipment and some students to nearby Milwaukee Career College in Wauwatosa.

Will students be more vulnerable?

Oversight of higher education in the United States is often described as a “triad” of the federal government, states, and regional or national accreditors. States are charged with authorizing schools and responding to student complaints.

“We want to make sure, whatever that process is, that states have some process to vet these institutions — that they’re good enough for serving residents of the state,” Dies said.

State statutes require the EAB to track school data, visit campuses and review curriculums, among other responsibilities. According to the budget proposal, DATCP would handle student complaints, while DFIPS would authorize schools to operate in the state.

Only schools with students taking federal financial aid would need authorization from DFIPS. Smaller institutions with no students receiving federal aid would not need approval to operate in the state.

The budget proposal says all the EAB’s “necessary functions” will be transferred, but Patrick did not respond to a question about how those were defined.

Dies is concerned that some oversight requirements — curriculum and program reviews, refund policy requirements, and disclosure of costs and policies — may simply end.

Stephanie Cellini, an economics professor at George Washington University, said Wisconsin led the nation at tracking data on what happens to students. She worries the data would deteriorate if the EAB were eliminated.

“It seems like EAB was doing the right thing,” she said. “Wouldn’t it make sense to add staff to EAB?”

Small schools support agency

The operators of two small schools said they hoped the EAB would stick around.

Laura Ehmann, the CEO of Midwest Maternal Child Institute, which has had a total of 17 enrolled students in Milwaukee since 2012, said she still plans to say her school is EAB-approved should the proposal pass, to distinguish her school from “fly-by-night” midwifery schools that lack approval.

“Having the state’s approval is a big deal for schools,” Ehmann said. “The rigorous process we have to go through to get approved is absolutely what we wanted.”

Jerry Klabacka, president and CEO of Diesel Truck Driver Training School with 718 enrolled students in Sun Prairie since 2012, said, “I think it’s an unnecessary, unproductive, almost destructive piece of legislation.”

He saw competitors behaving badly in the past — taking federal money despite high default rates, failing to do credit checks, and “milking the soup lines in Chicago” for students with the lure of cash.

“The industry needs regulation,” said Klabacka, whose family has run the school for 50 years.

EAB at work

Another small school under the EAB’s jurisdiction is the Wisconsin School of Professional Pet Grooming, in Oconomowoc, with two instructors and 20 enrolled students since 2012. Recently, four students lodged complaints against the school’s director, Delores Lillge, alleging “harsh, demeaning criticism and personal attacks,” hitting a misbehaving dog on the head with a metal comb, and calling a student with disabilities “a dummy.”

EAB staffer Pat Sweeney wrote Lillge a scolding letter describing the students’ concerns and directing the school to address them. And he helped the students negotiate a partial refund and certificates of completion, to which three out of the four agreed.

Lillge said she agreed to “small” improvements but denies the students’ allegations and said a confidentiality agreement prevented her from discussing the matter.

The EAB is designed to prevent complaints like those to the pet grooming school, Dies said. If it is eliminated, he predicted, “complaints are going to increase significantly.”


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: education; redtape; schools; scottwalker; wi; wis; wisconsin
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How dare Gov. Scott Walker undermine "education experts" and their wand of approval! How dare affordable education be available, that businesses be unchained from bureaucratic dictates (and shakedown fees and theft of a percentage of their profits)! What will the "esteemed" Big Education cabal do - those liberal enclave of anti-American, socialist activism -- powerhouses generating government policy papers, sitting on billion dollar endowments, protected by tenure, who have arrogantly (for decades] held control over political and social thought (undermined the bedrock of our nation: beliefs and institutions - torn apart the comity of America)?

They will fight tooth and nail to hold to their power, privilege and profits.

What product does Big Education produce? We know. There are thousands upon thousands of graduates who hold useless degrees, who face mega loan-induced servitude and suffer with liberal indoctrination and brain rot.

Walker believes dumping the EAB will “benefit schools by eliminating a costly and unnecessary regulatory burden,” according to his spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick. [money will remain in the schools' pockets - to be invested where they see fit - they will decide what they teach]

Educational Approval Board: Frequently Asked Questions for Schools, Students and Consumers

[snip]

14. What does the approval process involve?

The EAB has an application form, which is used to guide the process. The process generally look like this:

school requests application materials;
school personnel meets with an EAB education consultant to review application material;
school completes and submits the application materials and fee;
the education consultant does a completeness and compliance review of the materials submitted;
an industry consultant may evaluate programs;
the education consultant prepares and sends letter of findings to the school;
if needed, the school makes corrections to meet EAB requirements and resubmits revised materials;
when the application materials meet EAB requirements, the school is approved to operate.

15. Do schools renew their approval?

Every year a school must renew its approval by sending in a renewal application. The application is due in September prior to the calendar year for which the school is renewing its approval.

16. Are there renewal fees?

The annual renewal fee has two parts:

a $500 fee due in September with the renewal application; and

a second payment which is a percentage of the school's adjusted gross annual revenues minus refunds paid to students."......"

[snip]

1 posted on 03/29/2015 2:43:35 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: All

More Walker budge “meddling.”


Haven’t we heard farmers decrying EPA rules, regulations and paper work - burdensome oversight eating up their time and profits - telling them how to run their family farms?

Below is an example of how Walker’s beating the environmentalists and their allies in the University system, bit by bit [chipping away], and leaving the money in the farmers’ pockets.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/farm-bureau-others-question-scott-walker-s-proposed-farm-research/article_fd57b04d-1749-51ab-bcaf-9de60d826f4c.html

March 7, 2015 - Farm Bureau, others question Scott Walker’s proposed farm research cuts

“Researchers and supporters of a program that helps farmers run cleaner and more efficient operations say they were “stunned” and “blindsided” by Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to cut a third of the project’s funding.

Discovery Farms, a UW-Extension program that dates to 2001, applies science from a “plows-on” level, evaluates and monitors efforts by state farmers to control runoff, calibrate fertilizer use and employ techniques to conserve land and water.

It has a $750,000 budget, of which $248,000 would be cut in the governor’s proposed state budget.

UW-Extension officials noted the loss affects longstanding projects and the ability of the small program to leverage crucial additional grants and funds.

“We would have a 1.2-employee reduction of staff and we would pull back some of our sampling efforts, water quality analysis and a project (set) for Rock County,” said Amber Radatz, project co-director.

The project’s programs include monitoring 20 state farms and educating thousands of farmers on conservation strategies.

“This was a big surprise to our agency partners as well as our partners in farm groups and in UW-Extension,” she said. “We never had an inkling.”

The $248,000 comes from a surcharge on farm chemical sales that would be discontinued.”................


2 posted on 03/29/2015 2:58:51 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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More Walker BUDGET “meddling.”


3 posted on 03/29/2015 2:59:21 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Education is supposed to be a function of state and local governments, not the federal government. So it does seem that a state organization that provides enough scrutiny to make sure minimal state standards are met is fine. But as usually happens with government initiatives, this group sounds like a money-guzzling machine passing all kinds of dictatorial and unnecessary mandates.

Eliminating it might be too extreme. Why not just cut way back on its reach? A consumer complaint board for education would be enough, one would think. And no passing mandates just because the feds like them!

4 posted on 03/29/2015 3:27:16 AM PDT by grania
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To: grania

If the proposal passes, are the schools left utterly adrift with respect to accreditation or would their next logical step be to affiliate with some national board? In engineering, for example, ABET is nationwide, not tied to a single state. Perhaps Walker is allergic to micromanagement here and the schools themselves a bit disingenuous.


5 posted on 03/29/2015 3:57:58 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: grania
Education is supposed to produce intelligent citizens, not stupid drones.

Kids (should) come out of high school ready to make babies (taught OUT of them by sexual freedom indoctrination), ready to work and be a productive citizen (robbed by the fact there are no jobs that do not participate in socialist advance) and just shy of legal voting age (with no clue what a Republican or Democrat really is and MOST dangerous ... no clue what THEY are)

America's demise is squarely at the feet of the NEA and tributarial agencies

6 posted on 03/29/2015 4:18:58 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
desparate;

"“Almost every institution is confused as to why we would want to do this,” Dies said. “The EAB oversight really provides some legitimacy and integrity for the sector.”

7 posted on 03/29/2015 4:21:21 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: HiTech RedNeck; grania; All
Governor Walker is working to give the office of governor veto power over Wisconsin's Superintendent of Public Schools. It was ruled unconstitutional by an activist Dane County Circuit Court Judge. [Dane County's DA and prosecutor have been running a secret 4 year (and counting) "John Doe investigation of Walker and WI conservatives U.S. Supreme Court could soon decide whether to take John Doe Case.] Current Superintendent is Tony Evers - elected in 2009.

Tony Evers: B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison MEd, University of Wisconsin-Madison PhD, Educational administration, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wisconsin's School Superintendent is an elected office.

Feb 2015: Court rules against measure letting Scott Walker halt school administrative rules "Madison — A unanimous state appeals court on Thursday deemed unconstitutional a portion of a 2011 law that gave Gov. Scott Walker the ability to halt administrative rules by state schools Superintendent Tony Evers, who is independently elected.

The ruling by the Madison-based District 4 Court of Appeals upholds a 2012 decision by Dane County Circuit Judge Amy Smith.

Walker signed the law in May 2011, which gave his administration a greater say in writing administrative rules, which are used to implement state laws. Administrative rules include more specifics than state statutes and carry the force of law.

The 2011 change required the governor to sign off on — or block — all administrative rules early in the process, even for agencies that are supposed to be independent. It also gave him a second chance to veto the rules before they were finalized.

Previously, the rules were written by state agencies and reviewed by the Legislature before they could take effect.

Parents of students and members of teachers unions sued Walker over the law as it applied to rules put together by the Department of Public Instruction, which is headed by Evers. Walker is a Republican and Evers is aligned with Democrats, though his post is officially nonpartisan.

The state constitution says "the supervision of public instruction shall be vested in a state superintendent and such other officers as the Legislature shall direct." In a 1996 case that the appeals court repeatedly cited, the state Supreme Court held that lawmakers and the governor cannot give "equal or superior authority" over public education to any other official.

The Supreme Court's ruling found that the state constitution prevented then-Gov. Tommy Thompson from transferring powers from the Department of Public Instruction to a new Department of Education overseen by the governor's administration.

"In sum, the Legislature has the authority to give, to not give, or to take away (the school superintendent's) supervisory powers, including rule-making power. What the Legislature may not do is give the (superintendent) a supervisory power relating to education and then fail to maintain the (superintendent's) supremacy with respect to that power," Appeals Judge Gary Sherman wrote for the court in Thursday's decision..................."

Six BILLION dollar yearly budget: Wisconsin Dept of Public Instruction - FY 2014 Budget: $5.94 billion

Superintendent of Schools "While the vast majority of the states that do have the statewide governmental position authorize the governor to appoint an individual to the office, there are at least 13 others who have opted to have public voters select the officeholders. These states include Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, Wisconsin and, until 2013, Wyoming*."

----------------

More on Walker and education [and battle with the state's School Superintendent, Tom Evers] :

Wisconsin Public Radio: Wisconsin's Superintendent Responds To Walker's Teacher Licensing Proposal "Governor Walker wants to change teacher licensing requirements in Wisconsin to, according to the Governor, create “alternative pathways to allow a candidate with real life experience to pass a competency test to gain a teacher license.”

This announcement came yesterday as part of the Governor’s workforce readiness plan and will be included in the two year budget proposal expected in early February.

The measure has already been criticized by the Department of Public Instruction and comes after State Superintendent Tony Evers warned on Wednesday of this week that what he calls “divisive mandates” on public education were on their way."

8 posted on 03/29/2015 4:28:56 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

So to make a long story short, an enabling constitutional amendment referendum is now in the works?


9 posted on 03/29/2015 4:32:30 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

It’s going to take a lot of lifting to roll back the education/government cabal in Wisconsin.

BUT this did happen during this battle [note last sentence]:

“...Walker was represented by the state Department of Justice, which is headed by newly elected Attorney General Brad Schimel. A spokeswoman for Schimel said he was likely to appeal the decision.

Lester Pines, the attorney who brought the case, said he was confident the appeals court’s decision would stand.

“I think the governor would be well advised and the attorney general would be well advised not to ask the Supreme Court to waste its time and reverse its own decision from 1996,” Pines said.

Pines said lawmakers should pay close attention to the decision as they consider school accountability legislation. Pines said he is monitoring the debate on that issue and will “absolutely” sue if he believes the final product interferes with the school superintendent’s constitutional powers.

“The new review process for administrative rules has a minimal effect for most state agencies because they are already controlled by the governor. But the 2011 law also gives the governor a say for the first time in rules written by independent agencies, such as Schimel’s Department of Justice and the Government Accountability Board, which oversees state ethics and elections laws.”


10 posted on 03/29/2015 4:38:05 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

It is a turf battle that the governor might or might not win, but he is trying. I would not be looking at this in a vacuum but rather asking what has worked well in other states.


11 posted on 03/29/2015 4:40:33 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
In the old days, (in MA and CT and I imagine many other states) there were state colleges that were pretty much in charge of producing qualified and competent teachers. I went to a private college in CT where there was a very reasonable set of requirements that the state insisted on for certification.

Beyond that, it was up to the colleges to assure a quality product. That worked just fine. The colleges were held accountable because their reputations and our employability depended on them getting it right.

I can't imagine how the public education mess gets straightened out unless the feds get out of it and the states' involvement becomes minimal. It's one of the reasons high schools aren't producing enough qualified workers anymore. Those that "know better" insist on high-level academics for all and all sorts of social priorities. If that would end, localities could go back to things like shop classes, basic finance, and other skills that would prepare students for the workforce. I just can't imagine how the mess can be fixed so that happens.

12 posted on 03/29/2015 4:44:53 AM PDT by grania
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
If it is eliminated, he predicted, “complaints are going to increase significantly.”

How can complaints increase if there is nobody left to complain to?

13 posted on 03/29/2015 4:46:07 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
There are thousands upon thousands of graduates who hold useless degrees, who face mega loan-induced servitude...

There are a lot of people graduating from these for-profit scam schools that are in the same boat. They exist just to get bodies through the door, collect tuitions and student loans, and deliver a produce a worthless degree or certificate. Anyone who honestly believes that they don't exist or that the market will sort it all out is a complete idiot. So if we can accept that some oversight of these organizations is necessary, then isn't it better that it be done at the state level rather than the federal level? And if Wisconsin is abandoning their responsibility in this then how can they prevent the feds from stepping in and doing the job for them?

This is a very short-sighted decision on the part of Governor Walker.

14 posted on 03/29/2015 4:55:07 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Typical govt over-regulation, accreditation already solves ths problem, as it des in other states.


15 posted on 03/29/2015 5:17:56 AM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

It’s the nuts and bolts of being an executive.

Walker has a style that doesn’t animate, rally and mobilize the opposition. He just keeps doggedly pushing and then acts when he can. He keeps racking up successes, not making it personal and showing anger - just keeps pushing government to the right - dismantling as he goes.

The Left hasn’t figured out how to combat this. They’re used to someone running at them, which gives them time to coalesce the unions, universities, media and democratic party activists into an overwhelming force used to drive public opinion against an “evil” symbol. Scott doesn’t give them this tool (which the Left has fine tuned and uses very effectively - note the fear on Capital Hill to buck these forces on the Left).


16 posted on 03/29/2015 5:27:02 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: DoodleDawg

Please read the entire piece.

There still will be oversight - just not by this shakedown organization, which is guided by the “elite educator class.”


17 posted on 03/29/2015 5:29:32 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: grania
Good points.

Here is an article that touches on technical education [from a college news source, so fwiw]:

Wisconsin tech schools might see an increase in performance-based funding "....Nick Hillman, a UW professor in educational leadership and policy analysis, said many states are grappling with performance-based funding in higher education. This would make Wisconsin one of the most aggressive in terms of technical schools, he said.

“There’s no rationale, there’s no rhyme or reason as to why 100 percent is a desirable figure,” Hillman said. ..."

18 posted on 03/29/2015 5:36:50 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
There still will be oversight - just not by this shakedown organization, which is guided by the “elite educator class.”

I read it. The responsibility will be parceled out to two different agencies, neither of which is primarily responsible for these kind of institutions and one of which is brand new. So how much oversight do you thing the scam schools and diploma mills will get under those circumstances? Say President Obama announced he was doing away with the Department of Defense and transferring its responsibilities to Homeland Security and the Commerce Departments? How well do you think that would work? This plan will guarantee that oversight will be reduced, abuses will grow, and people are going to get screwed without anyone to go to bat for them.

19 posted on 03/29/2015 5:38:08 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: DoodleDawg

These agencies are designed to address these issues. Big Education needs to butt out. They want to control of every aspect of our lives.

Why are you taking this in the opposite direction? “What if, DoD goes to Homeland Security?” That is a strawman argument.

Walker isn’t a dictator - the Wisconsin legislature is in play.


20 posted on 03/29/2015 5:46:46 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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