The newly elected Detroit school board faces a pressing challenge: bringing down the district’s chronic absenteeism rate, which still sits at about 60% of students. A student is deemed chronically absent after missing 10% of the school year – roughly 18 days in a typical 180‑day calendar.

Attendance has improved in recent years, falling from a high of 76.7% in the 2021‑22 school year to the current 60% at the end of the 2025‑26 school year. While the trend is encouraging, the district and city leaders say more work is needed.

Mayor’s initiatives

Mayor Mary Sheffield has made attendance a priority since taking office in January. Her administration has made city bus service free for all Detroit students, expanded after‑school programs, and launched a pilot rideshare service for students at several high schools with the highest absentee rates.

District strategies

The Detroit Public Schools district has invested in attendance agents who work directly with families, created health hubs to address medical barriers to attendance, and introduced incentive programs that pay high‑school students for perfect attendance. A pilot program also provides free yellow school‑bus transportation for students attending high schools where chronic absenteeism is most severe.

Candidate perspectives

Chalkbeat Detroit surveyed all 34 candidates running for the board – 31 seeking four‑year terms and three seeking a partial two‑year term. Nineteen candidates completed the questionnaire, offering a range of ideas:

• Some propose expanding the attendance‑agent model citywide, arguing that personalized outreach can identify and resolve underlying issues.
• Others suggest increasing the incentive program’s payout and tying it to community service, hoping to reinforce both attendance and civic responsibility.
• A few candidates call for broader use of the rideshare pilot, recommending partnerships with local businesses to keep costs low while expanding coverage.
• Several candidates emphasize the need for more robust health hubs, adding mental‑health counselors and on‑site medical clinics to remove health‑related barriers.

While the proposals differ in emphasis, they share a common thread: a belief that coordinated effort between the school district, the mayor’s office, and community partners is essential to get more Detroit children into the classroom every day.

Looking ahead

The board’s first meeting is scheduled for early November, where members will begin shaping policy based on these ideas. With the city’s free‑bus and rideshare programs already in place, the board’s decisions could determine whether those initiatives are expanded, refined, or supplemented with new approaches.

Detroit families and community leaders are watching closely, hoping that the combined efforts of the mayor, the school district, and the newly elected board will continue the downward trend in absenteeism and give more students the consistent education they deserve.

Original reporting: BridgeDetroit — read the source article.