(NETWORK INDIANA) Indiana’s push to get students work experience while they’re still in school has had unintended consequences. Legislators could vote this week to fix it.
Legislators say they’ve been hearing from families where teenagers with paid internships ended up pushing the household income too high for welfare and food stamps. Noblesville Representative Chuck Goodrich (R) says he’s heard of cases where parents told students they had to quit so the family could continue to make ends meet.
Jasmine Burditt with the public-school advocacy group Rise Indy says students shouldn’t be put in the position of immediate financial pressures forcing them to pass up an opportunity to gain skills that would help them be financially stable as adults.
House Republicans made a fix to the program part of their 2020 agenda. The House has already voted unanimously to wall off internship income from eligibility calculations. The Senate could send the bill to Governor Holcomb as early as Thursday.
