Detroit Public Schools Community District is continuing to pay high school students $100 a week for perfect attendance and expanding the program to middle schoolers, who can earn $50 a week, as officials try to cut chronic absenteeism before classes resume Aug. 24.
According to DPSCD and reporting by Chalkbeat Detroit, the “Perfect Attendance Pays” initiative will again run in weekly cycles from January through March, when winter weather and illness typically drive absences. High school students who attend every class period for five consecutive school days receive a $100 digital Visa gift card. Students in grades 6–8 will now qualify for $50 under the same rules. Tardies count as present; any missed period, including excused absences, disqualifies a student for that week.
District data show the high school program reached about 12,800 of 15,247 high school students last winter, Chalkbeat Detroit reports. High school chronic absenteeism fell from 64% in 2023-24 to 54% by the end of April 2026, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has said. Overall, 61% of DPSCD students still missed at least 10% of the 2024-25 school year.
Vitti has said the incentive improved turnout but is “still not at scale” for students who miss the most days. The payments come from the district’s roughly $1.1 billion budget.
Transportation is another part of the strategy. The city of Detroit is launching a $500,000 ride-share pilot for about 150 students at Pershing, Denby and Osborn high schools and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney, from Aug. 24 through mid-October, city officials said.
A $1 million state grant will keep Detroit Department of Transportation bus rides free for all Detroit K-12 students under the Ride to Rise program. Mayor Mary Sheffield’s office is also placing city employees as safety ambassadors on key bus routes.
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