Detroit Public Schools are paying kids up to $1,000 just to attend class and teaching them an awful lesson

Detroit public schools have an absolutely hideous rate of chronic absenteeism.But their solution is even worse — paying kids to show up.A newly expanded program could see middle and high school kids making as much as $500 or $1,000-a-year respectively in gift cards for simply attending class.The district claims it creates an incentive for kids to show up — its called the “Perfect Attendance Pays” program — but it’s a desperate, last-ditch attempt to fix a much deeper cultural crisis.The program is actually teaching toxic life lessons: that simply showing up is some sort of accomplishment, and you’re entitled to be rewarded for doing the bare minimum.The initiative has been in effect for high schoolers for two school years.

The district announced this month that middle schoolers will also be eligible.It’s an attempt to chip away at the daunting fact that a full 60.9% of students in the district were chronically absent as of the 2024-25 school year, meaning they missed at least 10% of school days.For ten weeks between the new year and spring break, when the district’s historical data proves kids are especially unlikely to show up to class, a five-day week of perfect attendance is redeemable by high schoolers for a $100 gift card and $50 for middle schoolers per week for up to 10 weeks.While high schoolers have been getting gift cards directly via email, middle schoolers’ parents would be handed the bonus.It’s a disturbing suggestion that parents themselves will effectively be bribed to get their kids to school.During the 2024-25 school year, the district handed out an eye-watering $4 million to high schoolers in the form of Visa gift cards, according to Bridge Detroit.

It’s just a small fraction of the district’s planned $1.1 billion budget for the upcoming year.The school district told The Post the initiative has “already been proven with our students and families to reduce chronic absenteeism,” noting rates in the high school dropped ...