Child-Labor Proposal Eyes Private Model

Proposed child-labor-rule changes —the most ambitious in 30 years—would carve out a permanent exemption to U.S. Department of Labor regulations for the work-study program run by a national network of Roman Catholic high schools .

The program is a requirement of the Chicago-based Cristo Rey Network , which now has 12 high schools around the country targeting low-income, mostly minority students in grades 9-12 with their sights set on college.

Under the Cristo Rey-style model that the department has proposed, students in any qualifying public or private school could work up to eight hours a day during some school days—more than double the time now permitted...