The Detroit Public Schools Community District is paying some students to show up to school.
The district will give eligible students $100 Visa gift cards to each high school student who has perfect attendance during each five-day cycle.
Students who achieve perfect attendance for 10 weeks could receive a total of $1,000. Students in grades nine through 12 who attend DPSCD as their primary enrollment district are eligible for the program. The "Perfect Attendance Pays" is an attendance incentive running from Monday, January 5, 2026 – Friday, March 20, 2026.
The district justified funding the program “to provide additional support to high school students, who often have many competing priorities and challenges, that can create barriers to regular attendance.”
This is the second year the district has operated the program, which aims to lower the district’s rate of chronic absenteeism.
The district aims to decrease chronic absenteeism to 42.9 percent by 2027. The district’s chronic absentee rate was 54 percent in April of 2026 and was 64 percent in the 2023-2024 school year, Chalbeat reported.
The Detroit Public Schools received $23,297 per pupil in the 2024-2025 school year, according to its Bulletin 10-14 report.
Despite that high funding amount, many students at DPSCD struggle to read and write. Of the 101,069 third-grade students who took the MSTEP, 61,779, or 61 percent, were not proficient in English Language Arts.
The district serves about 48,000 students.
Detroit Public Schools is expanding “Perfect Attendance Pays,” offering students up to $100 a week for perfect attendance. pic.twitter.com/RDQ8UWpRY4
— Dave Bondy (@DaveBondyTV) August 18, 2026
BREAKING: Detroit Public Schools will pay high school students $100 a week and middle schoolers $50 a week in gift cards for PERFECT ATTENDANCE.
— Jack (@jackunheard) August 18, 2026
🚨 BREAKING: Detroit Public Schools is now PAYING their highschool students $100 per week, up to $1K per student, for perfect attendance. Middle schoolers get $50 per week.
— Austin (@MrAustinPredict) August 18, 2026
61% of students enrolled at DPS are CHRONICALLY absent, vs 28% statewide.
Your taxpayer dollars at work! pic.twitter.com/Qcb9bOOKGh
Detroit Public Schools are paying students up to $100 PER WEEK for having perfect weekly attendance.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 18, 2026
No, this is NOT a joke.
This is where your tax dollars are being spent.
A program that pays Detroit high school students $100 a week for perfect attendance during designated periods is working — helping to bring down chronic absenteeism in the city’s public schools.
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) August 20, 2026
Starting this fall, the program will be expanded to pay middle schoolers $50 for… pic.twitter.com/sTR44G0Gzk
This is INSANE:
— Chris Ripa (@CHRISsW0RLD) August 18, 2026
Detroit Public Schools Community District is expanding its “Perfect Attendance Pays” program for the 2026-27 school year, offering high school students $100 gift cards and middle school students $50 gift cards for each week of perfect attendance during designated… pic.twitter.com/NCyPdN9ito
