THOMAS EL

Set in ABILENE, Texas, THOMAS EL is a tight-knit primary school, one of the schools within ABILENE ISD. It hosts 378 students across grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, Texas's public schools average about 519 students each, so THOMAS EL sits 27% smaller than that benchmark.

ABILENE ISD comprises 26 schools with combined enrollment of 14,536 students; THOMAS EL is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, THOMAS EL lists that the largest single group is Hispanic at 38%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest breaks down as 37% Black, 20% White, 3% multiracial, 2% Asian. The wider county runs roughly 25% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, THOMAS EL has 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.4:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 15.1:1, putting THOMAS EL tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 75% of students at THOMAS EL qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Taylor County runs at roughly 53%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), THOMAS EL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 41.3%, the actual is 36.3%, a residual of -5.0 points.

In the area at large, census data for Taylor County shows the typical household earns roughly $67,139 per year, 29% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. THOMAS EL is one of 54 public schools in Taylor County (combined enrollment of about 24,159 students).

CRAIG MIDDLE is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.8 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The campus sits in an urban setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at THOMAS EL has edged down 16%, going from 451 students in 2018 to 378 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment ticked up from 18% to 37% over that span.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.