DETROIT WILL PAY MIDDLE SCHOOLERS $50 A WEEK TO SHOW UP
Detroit Public Schools Community District expanded its “Perfect Attendance Pays” program to middle schoolers for the 2026–27 school year, offering them $50 for each week of perfect attendance. High schoolers can earn $100 a week, and the district is betting the cash will keep kids in class and push down chronic absenteeism.
The Source reported the expansion on August 18, 2026. In a statement quoted by the New York Post, the district said the approach had “already been proven with our students and families to reduce chronic absenteeism.”
The idea is not new in Detroit. Michigan Public described the expansion as bringing middle schoolers into a program that had paid high schoolers in $100 weekly Visa gift cards for two years.
What students had to do
The bar was high. Students had to attend every class hour of every day in the qualifying week, Michigan Public reported.
MLive reported that arriving late, leaving early or missing any class could cost a student that week’s payout, even with an excused absence. School-sponsored activities like field trips were the exception. For middle schoolers, the money goes to a parent or guardian.
The program does not run all year. It covers ten weeks from January through March, which Michigan Public said was chosen because attendance usually drops at that time of year. Add up every qualifying week and the top payout is $1,000 for high schoolers and $500 for middle schoolers, FOX 2 Detroit reported.
Where the money comes from
The cash did not come out of state or federal education funds. MLive reported it came from interest accrued on money set aside for facility projects. The district called it “interest generated through District funds awaiting to be used for facility projects,” in a statement quoted by the New York Post.
It is not a small pot. Michigan Public reported the program paid out about $7.7 million in the prior year. FOX 2 Detroit described the initiative as an effort to increase enrollment and attendance in the district.
Does it work?
The district says yes. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Michigan Public, “I think it is working.” He also said, “This conversation is about making sure students are coming to school so that they can learn at higher levels.”
Michigan Public reported that attendance during the program period rose more than 2% compared with before the program began, a figure it attributed to the district. About one-third of the students who earned a reward were ones the district considered chronically absent, meaning they miss 10% or more of school days.
On September 13, 2026, MLive reported that officials would track how many students qualify and whether high-school chronic absenteeism kept falling. They were also watching whether the middle-school expansion would produce similar results.
The latest numbers came from Chalkbeat Detroit, which updated its report on October 28, 2026. It said roughly 12,800 high schoolers received at least one $100 gift card for attendance cycles running January 5 through March 20, 2026. That is nearly 84% of the 15,247 students enrolled across the district’s 26 high schools. Chalkbeat also reported that, according to Vitti, high-school chronic absenteeism fell from 64% in 2023–24 to 54% by the end of April 2026.
