AMERICORPS GIVES VOLUNTEER EFFORT A COSTLY BLACK EYE

AmeriCorps funding is on the cutting table, and proponents are howling. They argue that paying 20,000 participants for community service work is worth the cost.

Oh, really?

Sen. John Ashcroft calls AmeriCorps a $27,000-per-participant boondoggle for youths trying to find themselves. A lot of people are making a lot of money off AmeriCorps besides the participants the program was designed to help. It is little more than a shell-game sham.

Locally, administration costs run $11,000 for each participant. Tack on another $15,000 for overhead and administration for each participant in Washington, and it is easy to see where the funding goes.

Compare that to what participants get paid to help with the costs of a college education: $2,363 for a part-time AmeriCorps member who completes 900 hours of service over a two-year period, or $4,725 for full-time participants who perform 1,700 hours of community service in a year. These so-called full-time volunteers also get paid a $7,945 living allowance.

Get your calculators ready. It takes $26,000 to oversee payment of a maximum of $12,670 for one full-time AmeriCorps volunteer. Who thinks that is a good use of taxpayer dollars?

The federal government would be millions of dollars ahead by simply eliminating all the overhead and administration and by making direct payments of the $470 million program to the people who need it most.

There are more than 300 AmeriCorps sites across the nation, including Southeast Missouri State University. The local operation is funded by $400,000 in federal funds, with another $154,000 provided by the university and participating agencies. More than a half-million dollars funds the community service efforts of 19 full-time and 17 part-time workers.

That is not to say AmeriCorps workers aren't doing some good work across the country. Billed as a domestic Peace Corps, workers have sandbagged in flood-threatened areas, worked with health departments in the Bootheel and tutored students throughout the region. These are good things, many of which used to get accomplished by old-fashioned -- and unpaid -- volunteers.

But the program itself sends a disturbing message to today's youths. By definition, a volunteer gives his services of his own free will. Is AmeriCorps encouraging a generation to feel it is OK to do community service projects only if there's a paycheck involved?

Republicans are serious about cutting the budget. With a deficit approaching $5 trillion, something has to be done now. Democrats also say they want to cut the budget, but they have a reason for saving each program targeted for the chopping block. AmeriCorps is simply not cost-effective. When more essential programs are targeted for reductions, AmeriCorps is nothing less than a luxury that America can ill afford.