Ben Painter Elementary

Ben Painter Elementary operates as a cozy elementary school in San Jose, California, part of Alum Rock Union Elementary. Current enrollment sits at 362 students spanning grades K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 465 students per school, that is 22% smaller than typical.

Alum Rock Union Elementary comprises 22 schools with combined enrollment of 7,251 students; Ben Painter Elementary is among them.

Demographically, Ben Painter Elementary lists that the largest single group is Asian, at 58% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school lists 37% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. By comparison, Santa Clara County as a whole is about 41% Asian, so the school skews visibly more Asian than its surroundings.

On the resource side, On paper, Ben Painter Elementary has 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 21.3:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Ben Painter Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 52% of students at Ben Painter Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Santa Clara County (around 37%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Ben Painter Elementary is in the bottom 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 48.6%; Ben Painter Elementary posts 29.4%, -19.1 points below that line.

Across the wider county, Santa Clara County reports that the typical household earns roughly $164,281 per year, roughly 57% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 4%. Ben Painter Elementary is one of 412 public schools in Santa Clara County (combined enrollment of about 230,059 students).

Nearest neighbor: William Sheppard Middle, around 0.1 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Ben Painter Elementary comes 4th of 5 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 36.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a high-density area.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 3%: 374 students in 2018 compared to 362 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment ticked down from 52% to 37% over that span. Class-load math has narrowed: from 23.7:1 in 2018 to 21.3:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Ben Painter Elementary community share and discuss pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.