Petition update

Decision from ASHA CEO Arlene Pietranton and ASHA Facilitating Team

Valerie Pitaluga
Plantation, FL, United States
Jul 1, 2020

Dear Ms. Pitaluga:

Thank you for contacting me concerning your request for an extension of the free ASHA Learning Pass.

As you recognized in your message, decisions about the Learning Pass must take into account a number of considerations and thus are not easy to make. That is partly due to the fact that it appears the coronavirus may be with us for an extended period. Consequently, it is incumbent on ASHA to engage in careful, long-term planning that strikes an appropriate and reasonable balance between resource capacity and the best ways to address, in an effective and sustainable manner, the variety of ASHA members’ changing needs.

Despite the uncertainties of the pandemic environment, ASHA quickly subscribed all members to free access to the Learning Pass shortly after COVID-19 struck. The intent was to help ASHA members have access to learning resources that could help them navigate an unprecedented professional landscape. To date, nearly 47,000 of ASHA’s 211,000 members and affiliates have used the Learning Pass for nearly 400,000 hours of free professional education. ASHA is very pleased to have provided this free resource, the cost of which has been millions of dollars in foregone revenue that otherwise would have gone directly toward helping to cover ASHA’s operational costs. Ongoing loss of revenue on that scale is not a sustainable option for any entity.

As different as current circumstance are, there are still groups of ASHA members with differing and sometime competing needs at this time. For example, as Vicki Deal-Williams mentioned in her communication to you, ASHA has more than 500 CE providers, many of whom are ASHA members, and they are advocating for ending the free Learning Pass because it affects their revenue stream and sometimes their very livelihoods. 

In addition to the Learning Pass, you also raised some broader points in your message that I would like to clarify. ASHA does not “make” $65 million annually. Rather, that is a revenue stream (65% from membership dues; 35% from non-dues revenue) that goes directly to covering the operational costs associated with ASHA’s various member programs, products, and services. How that revenue stream is allocated is guided by member feedback, obtained via regular surveys as well as by the ASHA member volunteer leaders who make up the ASHA Board of Directors and the Financial Planning Board. For 2020, the ASHA Board has approved putting 99% of projected $63.2 million in revenue toward expenses, a decision that is typically the case. Also, a guiding principle of ASHA’s revenue stream is that the cost of optional offerings to members (such as Continuing Education programs, SIG memberships, or the Continuing Education Registry) are covered by the fees paid by those who use them, instead of by the ASHA membership as whole, which would require raising individual member dues. As noted above, about 22% - 25% of ASHA members chose to use their free access to the Learning Pass – but the revenue foregone to date diminished the financial resources available to cover the costs of the core programs, products and services available for all members. On a related note, as I hope you know – ASHA’s annual membership dues have not increased in a decade (the last increase was in 2010), something few other associations have been able to do on behalf of their members.

For these reasons, and following careful consideration by me and the other members of the Facilitating Team and with the support of the Board of Directors, ASHA will not be extending the Learning Pass across the board to all members; but as previously noted, we will do so for the rest of 2020 for members who request a hardship extension.

I understand that this is not the answer you were seeking and hope that the above information is helpful in assuring you that ASHA’s staff and volunteer leaders understand and deeply empathize with the significant disruptions and challenges that so many members and people everywhere are experiencing  due to COVID-19 – and that we are committed to making often difficult decisions in the best balanced interests of all members in both the short and long term. Should circumstances change in such a way that allows for a review of this decision, I assure you that one would take place. ASHA continues to monitor members’ changing needs during this disruptive time.

Thank you again for your email and for recognizing the difficult decision-making that COVID 19 presents for all of us. I wish you well and hope you will find value in taking advantage of the full range of resources ASHA is offering members during this challenging time https://www.asha.org/About/Coronavirus-Updates/

Sincerely yours, 

Arlene  

Arlene A. Pietranton, PhD, CAE

Chief Executive Officer

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

2200 Research Boulevard

Rockville, MD 20850

www.asha.org

+1 301 296 5701


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