Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy

Located at 27 Martin Luther King Jr Plaza, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy is a medium-sized senior high that teaches 1,144 students (grades 9 through 12), run under Elizabeth Public Schools. By comparison, New Jersey's public schools average about 929 students each, so Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy sits 23% above that benchmark.

Elizabeth Public Schools runs 37 schools in total, collectively educating 27,580 students. Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy shows that 76% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Other groups include 17% Black, 7% White. By comparison, Union County as a whole is about 35% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy lists 79 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.5:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 12.7:1, putting Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy higher than the state norm the norm. Around 81% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is higher than Union County's rate of about 52%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 22.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 25.9%.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Union County shows median household earnings sit near $103,202, roughly 39% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Union County runs 180 public schools (combined enrollment of about 99,046 students), of which Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy is one.

Nearest neighbor: Elizabeth High School - Frank J Cicarell Academy, around 0.1 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy comes 4th of 9 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 27.2%.

Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy operates from an outer-ring location.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked up 3%: 1,116 students in 2018 compared to 1,144 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share grew from 68% to 76%. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 12.5:1 in 2018 to 14.5:1 today.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.