TOLEDO, Ohio — A new bill in the Ohio Statehouse would pay students to show up to class, offering up to $500 a year in an effort to decrease absenteeism.
A Toledo elementary school is trying to improve attendance numbers through different rewards.
Reynolds Elementary held a family fun night on Monday, and the main focus was the importance of getting kids to show up to school every day.
Andrew Frank's two sons attend Reynolds. Besides getting the kids out and about, he said he came to the event to see what the school had to say about attendance.
Frank said his kids don't have an issue with getting to school, but he likes the incentives the school is offering.
"If you come to school, you get rewarded. If you don't come to school, you don't get rewards," he said.
The school announced incentive programs like awarding a catered lunch or offering a skating trip to the classes with the best attendance.
Principal Tiffany Dent said the incentives became necessary because absent students are an issue at her school.
"My chronic absenteeism was 62%, that's high," Dent said of the 2022-23 school year. "That means 62% of my students are considered chronically absent."
Reynolds Elementary's absenteeism rate for that year was higher than the state average and the Toledo Public Schools average. A student is considered chronically absent if they miss 10% of the school year or more for any reason. The state's average absenteeism rate for the 2022-23 school year was about 26.6%; TPS' rate was about 42.5%.
Brian Murphy, TPS' chief of strategy and organizational development, said urban school districts nationwide typically have more absent students.
"Facing housing insecurity, in some areas and urban areas, whether they're facing food insecurities," Murphy said of contributing factors. "Because of that, there are challenges with getting kids to school with some of those families."
Murphy said incentive programs like the ones at Reynolds are available throughout TPS. The district also works with the Lucas County Juvenile Justice Center to provide mediators to families who have trouble getting their kids to school.
Murphy said with these efforts, the district has been able to decrease absenteeism rates by about 10% since the 2021-22 school year.
If the bill to pay students and parents for good attendance passes, schools would need to send in applications. Two schools — one urban and one rural — would then be picked.
WTOL 11 asked Murphy if TPS has considered applying for the program. He said with the bill just being in its early stages, the district has not had that conversation just yet.