Perhaps Rep. David Burns’ goal is to make another bad piece of child labor legislation look moderate by comparison.

If that’s it, he’s succeeding.

Burns, R-Whiting, thinks Maine should have no limit on the number of hours a Maine school student can work.

Worse, his bill would result in students taking jobs away from adults working in minimum-wage occupations.

Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, has submitted legislation that would expand the hours students may work during the school year and allow them to work an hour later on school nights, to 11 rather than 10 p.m.

Under the current law, 16- and 17-year-olds may work a maximum of 20 hours per week when school is in session. On school days, students can work no more than four hours a day and only until 10 p.m.

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And that is probably more than most students can handle. Studies show that students who work too many hours during the school year have more absences and do more poorly in school.

Plowman’s original bill would add 12 hours to the maximum schedule, meaning a youngster could work 32 hours per week.

She has since modified that to 24 hours in a given week.

Burns’ bill goes much further in lifting the hourly cap. A child, under his legislation, could work 40 hours per week while going to high school.

Worse, he would reinstitute a “training wage” which would be $2.25 less per hour than the current $7.50 minimum wage for the first 180 days a student works in a particular job.

There are a couple of obvious problems with that. First, it would give student workers a huge advantage over adults in finding jobs, and that’s definitely not in the state’s best interest.

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Second, a student could conceivably have three or four summer jobs and never rise above that “training wage.”

Finally, students working to save for college would take a huge hit over the course of a 90-day summer, about $1,600.

That would be $3,200 over the course of two summers — lost earnings that could result in even more college loans for students and their parents.

Maine students already emerge from college with one of the highest debt burdens in the country. That’s because their families have lower incomes and because Maine does less than most states to support higher education with tax dollars.

Cutting thousands of dollars from their college savings will only make it harder for students to attend college.

Meanwhile, completely lifting the ceiling on the hours a student can work is just unconscionable.

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As we’ve said before, job-one for every Maine student must be studying hard and preparing for their life in the adult workplace.

Young people will have 40 or more years of adult work ahead of them. Their responsibility as teens must be getting the most out of their high school education.

They cannot do that by working until 11 p.m. on school nights or 30 or 40 hours per week.

We do realize that the state’s hospitality industry is important and that students do learn by holding part-time jobs.

But the state’s taxpayers are spending millions of dollars a year establishing an educational foundation for our young people. That money is wasted on a teen who is too tired to learn and has no time for homework.

In the long run, neither bill is good for the state, its children or its economy.

rrhoades@sunjournal.com

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.

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