(WWJ) There's a lot of chatter on social media about kids in Detroit's public schools getting paid $100 a week to go to school this year.
And while it's not that simple, there is in fact such a program in place for the 2026-27 school year.
The Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is offering a major financial incentive to help drive student engagement and boost classroom presence: high schoolers can earn up to $1,000 in gift cards simply by showing up to class every day during certain designated periods.
The initiative, designed to reward consistency and target chronic absenteeism, allows eligible high school students across the district to earn money through weekly attendance milestones.
Here's how the incentive program works:
How students earn the rewards
- Weekly Earnings: High school students earn $100 for every qualifying 5-day school week in which they achieve perfect attendance.
- The Rules: To qualify for the weekly reward, a student must attend every single class period on time from Monday through Friday. A single unexcused absence, tardy, or skipped period during that week forfeits the payout for that cycle.
- 10-Week Window: The program runs over a designated 10-week incentive period during the school year.
- Maximum Payout: Students who maintain 100% attendance across all 10 qualifying weeks will accumulate $1,000 total in digital or physical gift cards.
Why the district implemented the program
DPSCD launched this initiative as a pilot program in 2025 to combat chronic absenteeism — a challenge faced by school districts nationwide — by directly motivating students to prioritize daily attendance.
According to district leaders, rewarding students week-by-week provides immediate, positive reinforcement. By tying the incentive to individual class periods rather than just whole-day attendance, the program encourages students not only to come to school but to remain in their classrooms throughout the entire day.
Gift card rewards are distributed periodically to students who meet all weekly criteria throughout the program's designated 10-week run.
Expansion to Middle School Students
Following positive results in high schools, DPSCD plans to expand the "Perfect Attendance Pays" program to middle schoolers (grades 6–8). Beginning in early 2027, eligible middle school students will be able to earn $50 gift cards for each 5-day week of perfect attendance during the 10-week winter stretch. Students who maintain 100% attendance across all qualifying cycles can accumulate up to $500 total. School leaders hope that introducing the incentive earlier in students' academic careers will build strong attendance habits before absenteeism becomes a long-term issue.
Detroit's chronic absenteeism crisis
This program comes as Detroit public schools face a severe chronic absenteeism crisis. Over 60% of students in the district miss at least 10% of the school year — driven largely by systemic challenges like unreliable transportation, severe winter weather, and economic strain, according to the latest stats shared by the city.
When traditional interventions failed to move the needle quickly enough, the attendance cash incentive was launched as an immediate "circuit breaker" to bypass these daily barriers. And the numbers show it works.
Before the incentive program launched, Detroit high school chronic absenteeism stood at 64% during the 2023–2024 school year. Following the introduction and expansion of the program, high school chronic absenteeism fell to 54% by the end of last spring — marking a full 10 percentage point drop, according to the DPSCD.
