A bill to loosen restrictions on how much some teens can work on the job is advancing in the state legislature.

Currently, 16 and 17 year olds in the state can only work 6 hours on a school day or 8 hours on a non-school day.

They can work 30 hours a week during the school year unless their grades and parents permit for more hours and they can work as late as 10:30 p.m. on a school night or 1 a.m. on a non-school night.

House Bill 255 sponsored by Georgetown Republican Representative Philip Pratt, would undo those rules, bringing Kentucky in line with federal child labor laws.

Critics say without those protections, employers could exploit teen workers.

Louisville Democratic Representative Sarah Stocker also argued the bill could lower funding for public schools in Kentucky.

One of the components of our Sikh formula is the average daily attendance.

That means that districts get their Sikh money based on how many kids show up for the day.

And when those numbers start to lower, it will have a ripple effect throughout the public education system that will impact the students who don't drop out, who continue to show up.

If we're so concerned about Sikh formula, when we shut the schools down for COVID and went to virtual learning.

We know that 28,000 students did not return to classroom.

That supports hurting our Sikh formula.

Many kids in their districts when they could not go to school, they did go and they worked and then they could not get them back.

That is a problem.

House Bill 255 passed the House, the full House and a vote of 6236.

It now heads to the Senate for consideration there.