Ohio legislators have put forth a bipartisan bill that would pay Ohio students to attend school in order to combat the growing trend of absenteeism, making taxpayers foot the bill.
The legislation would launch two pilot programs in two schools that face low attendance and graduation rates, one rural and one urban, as chosen by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. The programs would pay students in kindergarten through ninth grade $500 a year to attend school and $250 for students who graduate high school, allotting $1.5 million over the course of two years.
Students with higher GPAs would have the opportunity to get paid as much as $750, according to the bill.
Democratic state Rep. Dani Isaacsohn, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the programs are meant to curb the increasing numbers of truancy since the pandemic, calling it the “most urgent problem in education today.”
“And it’s not just Ohio — there has been a cultural shift away from attending school across the country,” Isaacsohn said at the bill’s hearing Tuesday. “Chronic absenteeism rates have skyrocketed everywhere, almost doubling from pre-pandemic levels. This is the No. 1 issue we are facing in education, and it is an absolute emergency.”
Republican state Rep. Bill Seitz, who is also sponsoring the bill, said previous incentives to get students to attend school have not worked in institutions where absenteeism is a major problem.
“So, we’ve tried pizza day, and we have tried playground hours, and we have tried all kinds of foo-foo stuff. It doesn’t seem to work,” Seitz told the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee. “So let us talk about the immediacy of a payment in cash. Cash is king. Cold, hard cash. In God we trust, all others pay cash.”
One Republican lawmaker was concerned about the bill’s efficacy, given that it is already illegal for minors not to attend school.
“Is this going to set a precedent for our young kids as young as kindergarten that we are going to pay you to abide by the laws moving forward?” state Rep. Josh Williams said. “I mean, are we going to get to the point where we are paying rapists not to rape?”
Seitz responded by saying students want instant incentives, and the monthly $25 cash payments will give students “immediate gratification.”
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Some Ohio students, such as senior Savion Lively from Dohn South, told WLWT 5 they are all for it. The outlet reported that one-third of Ohio students are consistently absent from school, and if successful, the program could be expanded to other grades.
“Oh, they’d be all in,” Lively said, referring to his friends. By the end of the year, state lawmakers will have to get the bill approved by Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) in order to begin the pilot programs, Statehouse News Bureau reported.