MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Deciding which school district to enroll your child in is a difficult decision for some parents; word-of-mouth is helpful but sometimes opinions are biased. Thanks to Niche – a review site that ranks K-12 schools and colleges throughout the United States – making this decision is slightly easier.

Recently, Niche released its fifth-annual list ranking the best school districts in the United States.

Okemos Public Schools ranked second in the state of Michigan and Haslett Public Schools ranked seventeenth. Multiple factors were taken into consideration when calculating these ratings, including academics, diversity, teachers, college prep, clubs and activities, health and safety, administration, sports, food and resources and facilities.

Okemos received an overall rating of an A+ and Haslett received an A. The most notable grades Okemos received was an A+ in academics, teachers and college prep and an A in health and safety, administration, sports and food. Haslett also received an A+ in college prep and an A in academics, teachers, health and safety and administration.

Okemos Public Schools is known for its sports programs. The boys’ tennis team won their second consecutive division two state title in 2018 and the girls’ lacrosse team hasn’t lost a conference title in twelve years. According to Niche, the school district has a 96 percent graduation rate and an average SAT score of 1310. In its reviews section, one student said, “The education is amazing, the teachers honestly care about you and how you do in their class,” while an alumnus said, “I loved everything about Okemos Public Schools. I felt very prepared when I entered college.”

Haslett Public Schools offers numerous advanced placement classes, like biology, chemistry calculus and government. The school district received in highest rating in college prep, but quite a few reviewers acknowledged its arts programs and extracurricular activities. One alumnus said, “Great school for college prep and readiness! I did a lot of the performing arts options at the school and I thought it was fantastic!” A student said, “They are all about college. The principal and teachers really care about the student [and] they are career-oriented.”

Both school districts have received high ratings from Niche numerous times.