Testimony of Matthew C. Spalding, Ph.D.
Director, B. Kenneth Simon
Center for American Studies
The Heritage Foundation

before the

Subcommittee on Select Education
Committee on Education and the Workforce

Principles and Reforms for Citizen Service

In his 2002 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush issued a call to all Americans to commit 4,000 hours to service and volunteerism over the course of their lifetime. President Bush renewed his challenge in this year’s State of the Union address and urged Congress to reconsider the Citizen Service Act of 2002, which would reform and reauthorize several programs-including AmeriCorps, VISTA and Learn & Serve America-as part of his Administration’s effort to foster service, citizenship, and responsibility.

Policymakers now have an important opportunity to rethink America’s national service programs as they design a reformed version of the Citizen Service Act for consideration by the new Congress. Working with the Bush Administration, lawmakers should propose a reformed legislative package that builds on the changes proposed in the 2002 legislation, takes additional steps to correct the infringement of religious liberty in the current service laws, and fundamentally transforms the current government-centered national service agenda into a true citizen service initiative that is compatible with the highest principles and traditions of American self-government.

The idea of national service has its origins in the theories of progressive reformers at the beginning of the 20th century and is today a key aspect of modern liberalism’s theory of citizenship. Progressive thinkers such as Herbert Croly and John Dewey argued that the forces of industrialism and urbanization had shattered America’s traditional social order and that these conditions in the modern world required a new administrative state to better manage political life and human affairs.

These thinkers further argued that such an unprecedented situation required nothing less than a new relationship between citizens and the federal government that emphasized a public-spirited devotion to a collective social ideal-what Dewey called “the Great Community” and Lyndon Johnson later proclaimed a “Great Society”-and transferred the traditional, local functions of civil society to a progressive, national government focused on social reform. This new idea of citizenship, and in particular the concept of national service, was meant to replace the old-fashioned notion of an independent, self-governing citizenship with an updated civic bond to an activist nation-state.

In recent years, this national service agenda received renewed interest in the ideas and policies of former President Bill Clinton, who called for a “new covenant” that would revive a sense of national community and civic-mindedness in response to what he saw as the “gilded age” of the 1980s. The Clinton Administration used these themes as a way to include civic life as an aspect of reinventing government, making government more “user-friendly” for citizens and communities while preserving-if not expanding-bureaucratic control of social programs.

This agenda was pursued within the philosophic assumptions and political goals of modern liberalism. The spirit and intentions of this paradigm were epitomized in the program Clinton proclaimed as “citizenship at its best”-AmeriCorps, the largest government program for national service since the Civilian Conservation Corps of the New Deal.

The government-oriented view of national service contrasts sharply with the idea of a “citizen service” that protects and strengthens civil society, focuses on service rather than social change, promotes true volunteerism, and addresses real problems-while minimizing the role of government. The following five principles of citizen service should be at the heart of the Citizen Service Act.

The traditional associations of civil society-families, schools, churches, voluntary organizations, and other mediating institutions-sustain social order and public morality, moderate individualism and materialism, and cultivate the personal character that is the foundation of a self-governing society. All of this occurs without the aid of government bureaucracies or the coercive power of the law. Unlike government programs, the personal involvement, individual generosity, and consistent participation that are the hallmarks of private philanthropy have a ripple effect of further strengthening the fiber of civil society.

Policymakers must recognize that President Bush’s call to service will be answered best not by a government program but by the selfless acts of millions of citizens in voluntary associations, local communities, and private organizations that are at the heart of American charity. In 2001, according to Independent Sector and the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, 83.9 million adults volunteered time to a formal charity organization and 89 percent of American households gave a total of $212 billion to charity. That same year, the Knights of Columbus alone raised and distributed $125.6 million (half the AmeriCorps budget) and volunteered 58 million hours of service (almost 90 percent of AmeriCorps participants’ service time).

These private voluntary organizations thrive today precisely because their work is privately organized, highly decentralized, and directly focused on community needs and local conditions. If policymakers are serious about promoting a thriving civil society, they should emphasize not only volunteering, but also private philanthropy by promoting proposals such as the Charity Aid, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act, which would boost both private volunteerism and charitable giving.

The goal of an authentic citizen service initiative should not be to engage citizens in a government program, nor to create an artificial bond between individuals and the state or organization that coordinates their service, but to energize a culture of personal compassion and civic commitment to those in need of service. Citizen service should not be a tool for an educational reform agenda, a platform for political or social activism, or a method of reinventing government. A true citizen service initiative should recognize and support the dynamic and diverse nature of civil society: It should not promote one particular form of service or suggest that public service in a national, government-sponsored program is in any way better or more dignified than traditional, and nongovernmental, forms of community service.

In determining which programs to recognize, support, and commend, policymakers should make practical distinctions between programs that meet critical needs and those that are not vital to societal well-being. Programs that help the elderly and serve the poor are on a different level than those that provide wardrobe tips, dance instruction, knitting lessons, art appreciation, or bike clubs.

Policymakers should also think twice about validating controversial activities (e.g., teaching sex education or working for programs that promote abortion or refer individuals to abortion providers, or that raise awareness about dating in lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and gay communities). Nor should they allow as “citizen service” policy advocacy activities (such as VISTA participants’ working for groups that organize opposition to welfare-reform policies, or AmeriCorps participants’ coordinating Peace Education camps and student activities or engaging young people “in struggles against racism, sexism, meanness and meaninglessness”).

Wherever possible, reform should prevent government support (and presumed public endorsement) of frivolous, controversial, and special-interest activities; it should focus instead on encouraging traditional service opportunities that address the real problems of those who are in need.

Any expanded government role in the voluntary sector is unwise and counterproductive. “The more [government] puts itself in the place of associations,” Tocqueville argued, “the more particular persons, losing the idea of associating with each other, will need it to come to their aid: these are causes and effects that generate each other without rest. Will the public administration in the end direct all the industries for which an isolated citizen cannot suffice?”

Citizen service that is paid for and organized by the government encourages individuals and associations to look to the state for assistance. Likewise, the government’s funding of charitable organizations to pay for volunteer time reduces the need for private-sector support, making it more likely that citizens will abdicate their civic responsibilities. Institutionalized federal funding and government administration also will have the effect of further reshaping the voluntary sector, as public money and oversight inevitably pushes aside private philanthropy and sets the stage for increased lobbying and public advocacy. The long-term effect would be to shift the center of gravity within the volunteer community from civil society to the public sector.

There already exists between government and many large nonprofit organizations what Leslie Lenkowsky has called a “dysfunctional marriage,” in which government money has led to a significant loss of nonprofit independence. “The partnership has been a Faustian bargain that ought to be reexamined and renegotiated,” Lenkowsky concluded. Expanding this relationship to include the voluntary sector generally, and especially those smaller organizations that have thus far eluded the federal reach, would only expand and intensify the problem.

Reform should reduce government’s financial, administrative, and regulatory role in civil society. Government can play an important role in revitalizing citizen service, but that role, of necessity, will be limited and indirect. Policymakers must keep in mind that government can best promote civil service not by creating any particular service programs (given that there is a vast network of private service activities that exist without government oversight or subsidies), but by launching a high-level bully-pulpit initiative to encourage, motivate, and honor the efforts of private citizens.

The Citizen Service Act of 2002 (which was approved in committee but was never acted on by Congress) contained many useful and innovative changes in existing programs and should serve as the basis for future reforms.

During the Clinton Administration, AmeriCorps participants were assigned to federal agencies and departments, and grants were used to subsidize political advocacy and activities. The Citizen Service Act of 2002 would have prohibited national service grants from going to federal agencies and would not have allowed the use of non-AmeriCorps federal funds to meet AmeriCorps’ matching-funds requirements. The proposal also mandated that any programs that teach sex education must not encourage sexual activity or distribute contraceptives and that they must include discussion of the health benefits of abstinence and risks of condom use.

In addition, the bill required recipients to certify that any participants who serve as tutors had earned, or were on track to obtain, a high school diploma. It further required that, to qualify, literacy programs must be rooted in scientifically based research and the essential components of reading instruction as defined in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

In designing a reformed Citizen Service Act, lawmakers should go beyond these particular proposals to consider prohibiting state government and political advocacy groups from receiving service grants and to consider prohibiting sex education instruction as a valid “service” of AmeriCorps participants. Nevertheless, lawmakers should carefully review and include as a starting point these and other useful reforms proposed in the 2002 legislation.

Regrettably, the Citizen Service Act of 2002 failed to remove a fundamental obstacle to the religious liberty of faith-based organizations. Current laws for national service programs specifically prohibit any individual operating a national service project from making employment decisions or choosing volunteers on the basis of religion. The Citizen Service Act of 2002 recognized that this was a problem but did not adequately address it. The bill merely proposed that faith-based organizations be given notice (and acknowledge in writing) that, by participating in national service programs, they would be subject to “anti-discriminatory” hiring policies and would not be protected by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which grants exemptions for religious groups.

This policy undermines a faith-based organization’s ability to select only staff and volunteers who strongly support the values and mission of the organization-factors that are often key to the success of an organization’s outreach. This restriction on an organization’s staffing decisions directly contradicts existing federal law (the 1996 Charitable Choice legislation): Its application to volunteers is equally debilitating and, in fact, may be unconstitutional. Many faith-based organizations depend heavily on volunteer manpower, and many ask volunteers as well as paid staff to agree to a statement of faith.

These provisions go against President Bush’s recent executive order protecting faith-based organizations. They also conflict with regulatory language proposed by a number of federal agencies to encourage faith-based organizations’ participation with social service programs and undermine efforts to reduce barriers to such participation. Allowing this language to stand in national service laws would set a disturbing precedent for other programs. Any new citizen-service legislation should remove these barriers in their entirety and re-establish full legal protections for faith-based groups involved in community service.

More fundamental changes are required, however, to transform today’s national service into a true citizen service. Reforms should be implemented in the three major activities coordinated by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).

AmeriCorps was created in 1993 as a major initiative of the Clinton Administration. Today, over 50,000 individuals aged 17 and older participate in various AmeriCorps programs for 20 to 40 hours a week. Most participants are selected and serve with local and national nonprofit organizations, as well as smaller community organizations, in areas such as education, public safety, housing, health and nutrition, disaster relief, and environmental needs.

During the Clinton Administration, AmeriCorps was essentially nothing more than a federal jobs program. The current argument on behalf of AmeriCorps is that it is a managerial program needed to provide the infrastructure necessary to recruit other volunteers. An emphasis on the potential fruits of the program, however, does not change the basic fact that individuals are paid by the federal treasury to “volunteer” for government-approved service programs.

For a full term of service (1,700 hours over 10 to 12 months), AmeriCorps participants currently receive a stipend of at least $9,600 and an educational grant of $4,725. This combined income amounts to $8.43 per hour of service, which is 163 percent of the current minimum wage, and adds up to a compensation package of $14,325. This is approximately the poverty level for a two-parent family with one child and is only slightly less than the annual basic pay and food allowance of an entry-grade recruit in the United States armed forces.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the amount paid to an AmeriCorps participant in 2001 exceeded the average hourly wages of maids and housekeepers, farm workers and laborers, child-care workers and personal and home-care aides, and the nearly 10 million individuals who work in food-preparation and serving-related occupations. AmeriCorps participants also made more per hour than the majority of cashiers, retail salespersons, and everyone in personal care and service occupations. In addition, full-time AmeriCorps participants are eligible for health-care benefits (which averaged $766 but ranged as high as $2,500 per eligible participant in 2002) and, as necessary, child-care benefits (which averaged $3,785 per eligible participant in 2002).

Overall, it would be consistent with the principles of authentic citizen service to discontinue AmeriCorps as paid employment but continue to give participants a modest educational award in the form of a voucher. Such a reform would also have the added benefit of removing most of the rules, regulations, and problems that typically follow government money. Furthermore, by decreasing dependence on large, nationwide organizations, reforming AmeriCorps would dramatically increase the scope of service opportunities and the range of charitable locations where participants could volunteer. Both of these additional benefits would make an educational voucher program much friendlier to faith-based organizations.

President John F. Kennedy first envisioned a domestic Peace Corps program in the summer of 1962. His initial proposal was for a limited program that was service-oriented, decentralized in administration, and focused on substantive, short-term projects. It was President Lyndon B. Johnson who incorporated the idea into the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and made it part of the Great Society’s broad-based “War on Poverty.” Along with initiatives such as Head Start, Upward Bound, and Job Corps, the new VISTA program became part of a grand strategy to address “structural poverty” through government intervention and social activism.

In the 1970s, policymakers tried to de-politicize VISTA by ending its focus on community organizing and poverty policy and directing its work toward specific projects to address problems in poor communities. However, during the Carter Administration, VISTA returned to its activist culture-supporting such things as a training school for Tom Hayden’s Campaign for Economic Democracy, a lobbying effort for the American Civil Liberties Union, and the political-activist efforts of ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)-and its focus on government programs. During the 1980s, the Reagan Administration tried to focus VISTA on youth participation and traditional community service, and particular self-help programs were added in the areas of drug-abuse prevention and public literacy.

Today, VISTA is operated as a subset of AmeriCorps, although it maintains an independent status by focusing on eradicating poverty and helping communities to address problems such as illiteracy, hunger, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, and inadequate health care. The agency still emphasizes community organizing and supports such activities as recruiting and training, fundraising and grant writing, increasing public awareness, creating resource centers, and helping to design new programs. Currently, there are approximately 4,000 AmeriCorps*VISTA participants working in almost 900 programs.

Created in 1993, Learn & Serve America provides grants to schools, colleges, and nonprofit organizations to encourage, create, and replicate “service-learning” programs for students of ages five to 17. The Corporation for National and Community Service funds state education agencies, state commissions on national and community service, and nonprofit organizations, which, in turn, select and fund local service-learning programs.

The problem with Learn & Serve America is fundamental and lies in the very concept of service learning that it promotes and funds. Service learning is a particular teaching methodology in which participants engage in “thoughtfully organized service” that “is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the educational components of the community service program” and provides “structured time for the students or participants to reflect on the service experience.”

It is certainly possible to find good projects that are being done in the name of service learning (e.g., a service-learning project that has been initiated to celebrate the Ohio state bicentennial), but the vast majority of service-learning programs promote social policies, many of which are controversial. In 2002, the Corporation for National and Community Service recognized service-learning “Leader Schools” with projects that built an eagle observation site and restored wetlands to teach environmentalism, used tutoring and mentoring projects to teach multiculturalism and racial diversity, and invited the homeless to read their poetry in the classroom as a way to teach about the evolution of homelessness. The Nicholas Senn High School in Chicago used its Learn & Serve grant money to design programs that used food banks as the basis for teaching hunger policy in history class and taught geometry by having students knit scarves and hats for the homeless during math class.

Moreover, while all education is strengthened by real-world experience and service is, in itself, educational, service-learning projects by their very nature push beyond the boundaries of service into the arena of advocacy. Integrated into the curriculum along with teacher-led reflection, most of these programs place less emphasis on an individual’s service (and the virtues that may be acquired through such service) and more emphasis on societal problems, social messages, and policy conclusions that can be linked to a particular service experience.

Advocates of service learning speak of advancing “tolerance,” “diversity,” and “social justice.” With roots in the experiential teaching theories of John Dewey and other early education reformers, the larger objective of service learning is not learning or service but engaging individuals in social and political change.

AmeriCorps has been plagued by administrative problems since its creation in 1993. During the Clinton Administration, several independent audits of the program pointed out mismanagement and serious cost overruns, with an actual per-participant cost that was considerably higher than reported. Under the Bush Administration, the program has been run more efficiently and has passed several audits, and there is much more accountability in its activities. Nevertheless, serious problems persist.

A Corporation for National and Community Service decision last November to suspend enrolling new members and reassign two managers prompted investigations by the CNCS Inspector General and the U.S. General Accounting Office. In 2000 and 2001, the CNCS surpassed its enrollment target and, as determined by the Office of Management and Budget, improperly used interest on educational funds to pay for additional participant stipends, causing a $64 million shortfall in its $100 million educational trust fund for 2003.

The ideas of volunteerism, civic engagement, and community service have long been a part of conservative thought, from Edmund Burke’s defense of the “little platoons” as the backbone of civil society to Ronald Reagan’s Private Sector Initiative. The concept of citizen service has deep roots in the principles and practices of republican self-government envisioned by the American Founding Fathers and described by Alexis de Tocqueville.