Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027: Complete Guide to Every Key Date

The Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 runs from Monday, August 10, 2026, through Friday, May 28, 2027. This year’s update adds a full week of Thanksgiving break, a 12-day winter break, and a five-day spring break in March.

The Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 governs every instructional day, break, and staff workday for Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) in Jacksonville, Florida.

The district’s official calendar lists the first day of school as August 10, 2026, and the last day as May 28, 2027, along with every grading period, holiday, and teacher planning date in between.

Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 at a Glance

The Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 contains 28 distinct entries covering instructional days, staff-only days, grading period markers, holiday closures, and contingency weather days.

The district publishes this information as a single master table on its official site rather than as separate monthly documents.

The table below reproduces every entry with the corresponding day of the week added for planning purposes.

Note that the published calendar begins in July 2026, not August. DCPS lists July 3, 2026, as a Schools/Admin Offices Closed date even though student instruction does not begin until five weeks later — a reflection of the district’s operational (fiscal and administrative) year running ahead of the instructional year.

First Day and Last Day in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027

The first day of school in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 is Monday, August 10, 2026, and the last day is Friday, May 28, 2027.

The Duval County School Board confirmed both dates when it approved calendar updates in April 2026, noting that the first and last day of school were among the items left unchanged during that revision.

The school year spans 42 calendar weeks from opening to closing day, though instructional time within that span is reduced by holidays, breaks, and staff-only days (detailed in the sections below).

Early-Release Confusion in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027

August 10, 2026, is not listed as an early-release day in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027.

Several independently operated calendar-aggregator sites describe the first day of school as a half-day or early-release day; one such site states that the first day of school is an early-release day and that the last day of school also features an early release.

The official district table does not carry an early-release label on either date — both are recorded simply as “First Day of School” and “Last Day of School.”

Parents planning after-school childcare around August 10, 2026, should confirm dismissal times directly with their child’s school rather than relying on third-party summaries, since individual schools sometimes set orientation-day schedules that differ from the district-wide calendar.

Duval County Public Schools District Profile

Duval County Public Schools is the public school district serving Jacksonville and Duval County, Florida, and it is the entity responsible for setting the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027.

The district describes itself as a State of Florida A-rated district and one of the top-rated urban school districts in the nation, with more than 150 schools.

Over 99% of DCPS schools earned a grade of A, B, or C; the district’s graduation rate has climbed to 95%, and 45 schools improved by one or two letter grades during the 2024-2025 school year.

Dr. Christopher Bernier has served as DCPS superintendent since being sworn in in July 2024, following a unanimous school board vote.

The district’s administrative offices are located at 1701 Prudential Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32207 (904-390-2000), the same address used for calendar and district-office correspondence throughout the 2026-2027 school year.

School Holidays and Breaks in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027

Every multi-day closure in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 falls into one of four categories: Thanksgiving break, winter break, spring break, and single-day federal or state holiday observances.

Thanksgiving Break: A Full Week Off for 2026-2027

Thanksgiving break in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 runs Monday, November 23 through Friday, November 27, 2026 — a full five-day week.

This is a structural change from prior years. The Duval County School Board approved this change specifically to give students a full week off during Thanksgiving, a revision district leaders attributed to feedback from a calendar committee made up of parents, employees, and community members.

By comparison, Thanksgiving break in the 2025-2026 calendar covered only three days (Wednesday, November 26 through Friday, November 28, 2025), with students in class the Monday and Tuesday of that week.

Winter Break: December 24, 2026 – January 1, 2027

Winter break in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 is a 12-day closure spanning Monday, December 21, 2026 through Friday, January 1, 2027.

The district calendar splits this period into two designations: December 21–23 as “Schools Closed” and December 24, 2026 through January 1, 2027 as “Schools/Admin Offices Closed.”

Instruction resumes the following week; January 4 and 5, 2027, are staff-only planning and professional development days, so students return to class on Wednesday, January 6, 2027.

Spring Break: March 15–19, 2027

Spring break in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 covers the full week of Monday, March 15 through Friday, March 19, 2027.

Families planning spring travel should also account for the days immediately surrounding it: Wednesday, March 10 marks the end of the third grading period, Thursday, March 11 is a professional development day, and Friday, March 12 is an employee planning day — meaning students are out of class from Wednesday, March 10 through the following Friday, March 19, an effective ten-day stretch even though only five of those days are formally labeled “Spring Break.”

A second closure follows immediately after: Friday, March 26, 2027, is Good Friday, confirmed independently as falling on that date.

This creates a second three-day weekend one week after spring break ends, a pattern that does not repeat in the 2025-2026 calendar, where Good Friday (April 3, 2026) stands alone, unconnected to the March 16–20, 2026 spring break window.

Single-Day Holidays and Observances

The Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 includes eight single-day closures tied to federal, state, or district-recognized holidays: Independence Day (observed Friday, July 3, 2026), Labor Day (Monday, September 7, 2026), Veterans Day (Wednesday, November 11, 2026), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, January 18, 2027), Presidents Day (Monday, February 15, 2027), Good Friday (Friday, March 26, 2027), Memorial Day (Monday, May 31, 2027), and Juneteenth, observed Friday, June 18, 2027, one day ahead of its actual June 19 date because that date falls on a Saturday.

Grading Periods and End-of-Term Dates

The Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 divides the academic year into four grading periods, each closing on a fixed date rather than a fixed day count.

Three of the four grading periods close on a Friday, immediately before a staff planning day or extended break; the third grading period is the exception, closing mid-week on a Wednesday ahead of two professional-development days and spring break.

Report card distribution dates are not listed on the district’s master calendar. Individual schools communicate report card timing directly to families following each grading-period close, so parents should check school-level communications rather than the district calendar for exact distribution dates.

Teacher Planning, Professional Development, and Weather Days

Non-student days in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 fall into three distinct categories, and the district’s own labeling distinguishes between them precisely.

Schools Closed vs. Schools/Admin Offices Closed

“Schools Closed” and “Schools/Admin Offices Closed” are not interchangeable labels in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027. Dates such as November 23–25, 2026, and December 21–23, 2026, are marked only as “Schools Closed,” while surrounding dates such as November 26–27, 2026, and December 24, 2026 through January 1, 2027, are marked “Schools/Admin Offices Closed.”

The practical distinction: on a “Schools Closed” day, district administrative offices typically remain open for business, while a “Schools/Admin Offices Closed” day shuts down both instruction and central-office operations, including phone and in-person support at district headquarters.

How DCPS Uses Built-In Weather Days

Four dates in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 are designated “Weather Day”: March 29, 2027; April 26, 2027; and June 1–2, 2027. These function as contingency instructional days rather than guaranteed days off.

In a typical year without significant storm-related closures, these dates remain non-attendance days. If a hurricane or other severe-weather event forces school closures earlier in the year, the district can convert one or more of these designated dates into required instructional days to preserve the state-mandated minimum school term.

Families should treat these four dates as tentative rather than confirmed non-school days until closer to each one, particularly during Florida’s June-through-November hurricane season, which overlaps the first four months of the 2026-2027 school year.

Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 vs. 2025-2026

Comparing the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 against the prior year’s calendar isolates exactly what changed and what stayed the same.

The most significant year-over-year change is structural, not incidental: Thanksgiving break grows from three days to a full five-day week.

District officials describe additional adjustments beyond the Thanksgiving change as part of the same April 2026 calendar revision, while confirming that first/last day, winter break, and spring break dates carried over unchanged from what had already been planned.

Winter break and spring break each hold at roughly the same length year over year, shifting only by the number of days needed to align with where the corresponding weekday falls on the calendar.

Florida’s Instructional-Time Requirements and the Duval County School Calendar

Florida law does not mandate a single statewide school calendar; instead, it sets a minimum instructional-time floor that districts like DCPS must build their calendars around. Under Florida Administrative Code Rule 6A-1.045111, every participating school district must operate for a term of 180 actual teaching days, or the hourly equivalent — no fewer than 720 net instructional hours for kindergarten through grade 3, and no fewer than 900 net instructional hours for grades 4 through 12.

This rule, tied to Florida Statute 1011.61, is why the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 carries built-in weather days rather than a fixed, unchangeable end date: if closures earlier in the year push the district below the 180-day or hourly threshold, the calendar already contains the flexibility to add instructional time in March, April, and June without a separate board vote.

A related but distinct piece of Florida education law affects the school day, not the school year: under legislation approved in 2025, the instructional day for Florida public and charter middle schools may not begin earlier than 8:00 a.m., and high schools may not begin earlier than 8:30 a.m., effective July 1, 2026, contingent on each district submitting a compliance report to the Florida Department of Education.

This start-time requirement does not appear on the district’s master calendar and does not affect any date in the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027; it governs daily bell schedules, which are set separately at the school level.

What the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027 Does Not Cover

The district’s master calendar is a dates-only document. It does not include school bus route schedules, individual campus bell times, report card distribution dates, state assessment (FAST) testing windows, graduation ceremony dates, or lunch menus — each of these is published separately by DCPS or by individual schools.

The calendar also does not apply uniformly to every program type: DCPS Virtual School, adult education programs, and some charter schools authorized by the district may operate on separate calendars that diverge from the dates listed above.

Parents of students in a non-traditional program should confirm their specific program’s calendar rather than assume it matches the district-wide dates in this guide.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Duval County School Calendar 2026-2027

Given how heavily you’re already leaning on statutory citations and year-over-year deltas here, this piece would probably benefit from an internal-linking pass once it’s live — tying it to whatever Florida-district or “school start dates 2026” pages you’ve already got in the series.