Summary:
The Hart Public School District is served by a single elementary school, Spitler Elementary School, which educates students in grades K-4 in a rural Michigan community.
For parents considering Hart Public School District, Spitler Elementary stands out for its strong resource allocation. The school maintains a favorable student-to-teacher ratio of 11.2:1 and spends a substantial $17,237 per student, suggesting that class sizes are small and students receive significant individual attention. However, academic proficiency remains a challenge. On the 2025-2026 M-Step assessments, only 26.9% of 3rd graders and 32.2% of 4th graders were proficient in English Language Arts, while math proficiency was 31.3% for 3rd grade and 30.7% for 4th grade—all figures below state averages by roughly 9 to 12 percentage points. The school's state ranking reflects this gap, placing it at 990th out of 1,492 Michigan elementary schools, which is the 34th percentile.
There are encouraging signs of improvement. Spitler Elementary's state ranking jumped from the 18th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 34th percentile in 2025-2026, and both 3rd and 4th-grade math scores improved year-over-year. The school serves a high-needs population, with 80.46% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, and chronic absenteeism affects 25.1% of students—a significant hurdle that likely impacts achievement. While the district's overall rank of 325 out of 625 (48th percentile) mirrors this single school's performance, the upward trajectory in test scores and ranking suggests recent efforts may be gaining traction. For parents, the key takeaway is that Spitler Elementary offers strong resources and small class sizes, but families should be aware that academic proficiency is below state averages, and addressing chronic absenteeism may be critical to unlocking further gains.
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