JOSE MERCADO

Set in CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, JOSE MERCADO is a small elementary campus, operated by PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. It enrolls 192 students across grades K through 8.

Across the 856 schools in PUERTO RICO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (236,079 students total), JOSE MERCADO accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, JOSE MERCADO reports that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (98%). Beyond that, the school lists 2% White. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 18 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 10.7:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 9.2:1 average. Roughly 91% of students at JOSE MERCADO qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Caguas Municipio put the typical household earns roughly $31,379 per year and the poverty rate sits near 34%. Across Caguas Municipio's 32 public schools (combined enrollment of about 7,277 students), JOSE MERCADO is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is INES MARIA MENDOZA CAGUAS, roughly 0.5 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at JOSE MERCADO has ticked down 11%, going from 215 students in 2018 to 192 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 15.4:1 in 2018 to 10.7:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the feed for JOSE MERCADO typically covers enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.