Detroit public school officials are doubling down on a controversial strategy to combat chronic absenteeism: paying students to show up. According to a report from a local Fox News outlet, the district is expanding its cash-for-attendance program to include middle school students, while increasing the potential payout for high schoolers.
The expansion, first reported by American Thinker, builds on a pilot program that awarded nearly 5,000 students $200 gift cards during the 2024–2025 school year for maintaining perfect attendance over two consecutive weeks—a total outlay of $1 million. Now, the district is widening the net.
New Incentives for Middle and High School Students
Under the revised plan, middle school students can earn a $50 gift card for perfect attendance in a single week, with the possibility of accumulating up to $500 over the school year. High school students, meanwhile, will receive $100 for a week of perfect attendance, with a maximum annual payout of $1,000.
The program’s expansion comes as Detroit schools grapple with a severe truancy crisis. A Michigan outlet reported last year that more than half of the district’s public school students regularly miss class, with chronic absenteeism described as a persistent problem. The district’s student body is overwhelmingly non-white, with U.S. News data showing white students make up just 2.4% of enrollment, Black students 80.8%, and Hispanic students 14.5%.
Critics Question the Cost and Approach
The initiative has drawn sharp criticism from those who argue that paying students for basic attendance is an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars. American Thinker columnist Olivia Murray, who wrote the original commentary, highlighted the financial disparity: the district spends more than $21,000 per student annually and receives over $27,000 in revenue per pupil—a $6,000 ‘profit’ per student that Murray claims is spent on unspecified expenses.
Murray contrasted this with her own experience paying under $8,000 a year for her son to attend a private Christian school, arguing that ‘an education, when you get government out of it, can be done for a fraction of what we’re being forced to fund.’
She did not mince words about the expansion: ‘What a disgusting exploitation of the taxpayers. First, we’re paying almost thirty-thousand dollars a year per deadbeat kid to be enrolled, and now we’re essentially handing them cash to simply get the education we’re already paying for.’
A Proposed Alternative: Tying Welfare to Attendance
Murray offered her own solution to the truancy problem, suggesting that parents whose children fail to attend school should lose access to government assistance programs. ‘Parents whose kids don’t get to school? Well they don’t get their Section 8 housing dollars, they don’t get their food stamps and WIC, they don’t get their free healthcare, and they don’t get all their other welfare handouts,’ she wrote, adding that such measures would compel ‘normal and functional’ parental behavior.
While the incentive program has its defenders—who see it as a pragmatic way to get kids into classrooms—the expansion raises questions about long-term effectiveness and cost. Detroit’s approach is not unique, but the scale of chronic absenteeism here is notably severe.
What’s Next for Detroit’s Attendance Push?
The district has not announced a timeline for implementing the expanded program, nor has it detailed the total budget. However, with nearly 5,000 students already participating in the initial phase, the potential cost of the new structure could be substantial if participation scales up.
Whether the financial incentives will meaningfully reduce absenteeism remains to be seen. Critics argue that paying students for basic compliance does not address underlying issues such as poverty, transportation, or family instability. Proponents, however, might point to the early success of the pilot program as a reason to expand.
As Detroit schools continue to battle truancy, the debate over how—and whether—to incentivize attendance is likely to intensify. For now, the district is betting that cash rewards will get more students through the doors.
Source: www.americanthinker.com — https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/09/school-officials-in-detroit-will-pay-even-more-kids-thousands-of-dollars-to-attend-school/