By Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times
As students across Alabama prepare to return to school next week, the city of Birmingham, in partnership with the Penny Foundation Inc., a local non-profit, wants to make sure students and families are ready on day one by providing $43,000 in incentives to reduce “chronic absenteeism.”
“Chronic absenteeism remains one of the biggest barriers to student achievement,” said Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin during a City Hall press conference on Thursday. “This is one way of tackling that challenge head on. We want every student in Birmingham to walk through their school doors ready to learn day one.”
“We want the students to be there, but students can’t get there without the support of the family,” said Lyord Watson Jr., Executive Director of the Penny Foundation, the nonprofit providing the funding.
Founded in 2017, The Penny Foundation works to connect people, organizations, and resources to support education, economic development, and community development. “Investments like this can make a big difference in changing a child’s trajectory,” Watson said.
The chronic absenteeism rate three years ago in the city was at 29 percent, said Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Mark Sullivan, Ed.D. said “That means one out of every three students were chronically absent,” he said.
That has been reduced to under 14 percent through partnerships with Jefferson County District Attorney’s office, the city and the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District, he added.
“Oftentimes, people don’t know what chronic absenteeism is,” said the superintendent. “It is missing 10 percent of the school year. Kids are in school 180 days, that means 18 days, you’re chronically absent, that is excused or unexcused.”
Here’s how the incentives work:
- Two families from each Birmingham City School will be randomly selected to receive $500 each.
- To qualify, students must be both registered and present on the FIRST day of school, August 7
- Student names will be randomly drawn from Birmingham City Schools’ student information system
- The incentive will be awarded to the primary guardian of the selected student
- Only one incentive will be awarded per household.
The initiative complements the City’s Every Day Counts partnership with the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District (HABD) to address chronic absenteeism. Through this program, HABD public housing residents gain access to additional resources that support regular attendance and improved literacy, including:
- Transportation assistance to and from school
- Homework help and academic support
- Monthly raffles for HABD households whose children achieve perfect attendance, with winners receiving financial support toward a housing expense
For more information, visit www.birminghamal.gov/readydayone.
Updated on 8/1/2025 at 12:49 p.m. to clarify headline
