Volusia County School Calendar 2026-2027: Key Dates, Holidays, and Grading Periods

The Volusia County School Calendar 2026-2027 sets Monday, August 10, 2026, as the first day of school for students and Wednesday, May 26, 2027, as the last day, covering 180 instructional days across four grading periods.

The calendar was released by Volusia County Schools (VCS) for the district’s 45 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, and 9 high schools, along with its alternative, charter, and virtual programs.

This guide breaks down every key date on the 2026-2027 calendar, compares it to the 2025-2026 school year, and places it alongside neighboring Central Florida districts.

Volusia County School Calendar 2026-2027 at a Glance

The Volusia County school calendar spans 41 weeks, from preplanning on August 4, 2026, through the last teacher workday on May 28, 2027.

The table below lists every key date published in the district’s official calendar.

Volusia County school calendar, in brief: School starts Monday, August 10, 2026, and ends Wednesday, May 26, 2027. The calendar includes 180 instructional days, four grading periods, and 35 early release Wednesdays.

First Day and Last Day of School for Volusia County Students

The first day of school for Volusia County students is Monday, August 10, 2026. This date opens Grading Period 1 and applies districtwide to elementary, middle, and high school students alike. Teachers report six days earlier, on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, for preplanning.

Preplanning and Teacher Reporting

Teachers report for preplanning on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, six calendar days before students arrive. This window gives instructional staff time for classroom setup, professional training, and administrative preparation before the first bell.

Last Day of School for Students and Teachers

The last day of school for students is Wednesday, May 26, 2027; the last day for teachers is Friday, May 28, 2027, two days later. The two-day gap covers grade finalization, end-of-year reporting, and closeout duties that fall to staff after students are dismissed for summer.

Grading Period 4 report cards will be posted to the Parent Portal on June 1, 2027, for elementary students; middle and high school report card timing was pending release from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) as of the calendar’s publication.

Notably, the 2026-2027 school year ends four calendar days before Memorial Day (Monday, May 31, 2027), so Memorial Day does not appear as a scheduled school holiday on this calendar — a departure from the 2025-2026 calendar, where Memorial Day fell during the academic year.

Volusia County School Holidays and Breaks 2026-2027

Volusia County Schools observes seven major holidays and breaks between August 2026 and May 2027: Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day, and Spring Break. Each is listed below with its exact dates and district-published designation.

Labor Day Holiday — Monday, September 7, 2026

Labor Day falls on Monday, September 7, 2026, the first full holiday of the school year. Schools are closed districtwide for students and staff.

Veterans Day Holiday — Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Veterans Day falls on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. Unlike most other holidays on the Volusia calendar, which land on a Monday, Veterans Day is fixed to the federal calendar date of November 11 regardless of the weekday.

Thanksgiving Holiday — November 23-27, 2026

Thanksgiving break runs from Monday, November 23, 2026, through Friday, November 27, 2026, a full five-day week. The district calendar lists November 23 as the day the holiday “begins,” with classes resuming the following Monday, November 30, 2026.

Unlike the 2025-2026 calendar, which designated two Thanksgiving-week days as inclement weather makeup dates, the 2026-2027 calendar does not reserve any day in Thanksgiving week for makeup purposes.

Winter Holiday — December 21, 2026, through January 4, 2027

Winter break spans Monday, December 21, 2026, through Monday, January 4, 2027, a stretch of two full weeks. January 4, 2027, is designated a Teacher Duty Day/Student Holiday, so students do not return to class until Tuesday, January 5, 2027. This gives families a 15-calendar-day window, encompassing both Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Monday, January 18, 2027

Martin Luther King’s Birthday Holiday falls on Monday, January 18, 2027, the third Monday of January, consistent with the federal observance.

President’s Day — Monday, February 15, 2027

President’s Day falls on Monday, February 15, 2027. It is a single-day holiday; unlike some neighboring districts, Volusia does not pair it with an adjacent teacher workday.

Spring Break — March 15-22, 2027

Spring Holiday begins Monday, March 15, 2027, and classes resume Tuesday, March 23, 2027. This break is structurally different from a standard Monday-through-Friday spring break: the calendar lists the standard week (March 15-19) as the holiday, followed immediately by a Teacher Duty Day/Student Holiday on Monday, March 22, 2027.

In practice, students are out of school for six weekdays — one day longer than the five-day spring breaks scheduled by Flagler, Seminole, and Orange County schools for the same period (see the district comparison table below).

Teacher Duty Days and Student Holidays in the Volusia County School Calendar

Volusia County designates four Teacher Duty Days/Student Holidays across the 2026-2027 calendar, on which staff report to work but students do not attend class: October 12, 2026; January 4, 2027; and March 22, 2027, plus the September 21, 2026, Professional Development Day.

These days are used for grading, planning, and professional training and are distinct from the district’s paid holidays.

Professional Development Day and the Inclement Weather Makeup Day — September 21, 2026

The Professional Development Day on Monday, September 21, 2026, is a student holiday. It also carries a conditional designation: the district calendar specifies that September 21 will be converted into an inclement weather makeup day if needed.

This dual-purpose scheduling is standard practice for Florida’s Atlantic coastal districts, where hurricane season (June 1 through November 30) can force school closures.

If no closures occur, September 21 remains a standard professional development day with no student attendance required.

Additional Teacher Duty Days

Three additional Teacher Duty Day/Student Holiday dates appear on the calendar: Monday, October 12, 2026; Monday, January 4, 2027; and Monday, March 22, 2027. Each falls at a natural break point in the grading calendar — near the end of Grading Period 1, immediately before winter break ends, and directly following spring break, respectively.

Early Release Wednesday Schedule

Volusia County Schools dismisses students one hour early on 35 Wednesdays throughout the 2026-2027 school year. Three of those early release days shift to Friday — November 20, 2026; December 18, 2026; and March 12, 2027 — and two Wednesdays are excluded entirely because they fall during Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) enrollment count weeks.

Early Release Dates by Month

Across ten months, this produces 35 early release days: three in August, five in September, three in October, two in November, three in December, four in January, three in February, four in March, four in April, and four in May.

FTE Weeks Without Early Release

No early release occurs during the weeks of October 7, 2026, and February 3, 2027, because both weeks correspond to Florida’s FTE student count periods. FTE surveys determine per-pupil state funding allocations, so districts standardize the school day length during these weeks to avoid attendance-hour discrepancies.

Grading Periods and Report Card Dates in the Volusia County School Calendar

Volusia County Schools divides the 2026-2027 academic year into four grading periods totaling 180 instructional days: two 43-day periods in the fall semester and two 47-day periods in the spring semester.

How Grading Periods Compare in the Volusia County School Calendar

Grading Periods 3 and 4 each run four days longer than Grading Periods 1 and 2 (47 versus 43 instructional days), because the spring semester has fewer interrupting holidays than the fall semester, which absorbs Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving break, and the start of winter break. Midterm reporting falls roughly midway through each period, giving families an interim progress check before the grading period closes.

Florida’s statewide FAST assessments generally run in three windows that overlap with these grading periods — fall, midyear, and spring — administered in September, January, and an April-through-May window, aligning closely with the start of Periods 1, 3, and the midterm point of Period 4.

Volusia County School Calendar 2026-2027 vs. 2025-2026: What Changed

The first day of school moves one day earlier, and the last day moves two days later when comparing the 2026-2027 calendar to the 2025-2026 calendar.

Preplanning, Labor Day, and the Professional Development Day each shift earlier by one day as well, since August 10, 2026, falls on a Monday one week before the equivalent date in the prior calendar year.

The most consequential change for families is the removal of Memorial Day as a scheduled break: because the 2026-2027 school year concludes on May 26, 2027, five days before Memorial Day (May 31, 2027), the holiday falls entirely outside the academic calendar for the first time in recent years.

How Volusia County’s Calendar Compares to Neighboring Florida Districts

Volusia County starts school on the same date as Flagler, Brevard, and Seminole counties, but one day before Orange County for the 2026-2027 school year.

Five Central Florida and Space Coast districts — Volusia, Flagler, Brevard, Seminole, and Orange — set their academic calendars independently, producing small but meaningful differences in start dates, break lengths, and total school year spans.

All five districts observe the same Thanksgiving week (November 23-27, 2026), reflecting Florida’s common practice of aligning the traditional fall holiday across county lines.

Spring break placement diverges more sharply: Volusia, Flagler, Seminole, and Orange all begin their spring breaks on March 15, 2027, but Brevard schedules its break a full week later, March 22-26, 2027.

Volusia’s spring break also runs one calendar day longer than Flagler’s, Seminole’s, or Orange’s because of the added March 22 teacher duty day.

Families with children enrolled across county lines — a common scenario in the Daytona Beach-to-Orlando corridor, where parents may work in one county and live in another — should treat these tables as a planning reference rather than a substitute for each district’s official calendar, since board-approved dates can be revised after initial publication.

Volusia County Schools District Overview

Volusia County Schools is the public school district serving Volusia County, Florida, including Daytona Beach, Deltona, DeLand, New Smyrna Beach, Ormond Beach, and Port Orange.

The district operates under Superintendent Dr. Carmen Balgobin and a five-member, publicly elected School Board.

Enrollment and School Count

Volusia County Schools enrolled 56,508 students in district-run schools for the 2025-2026 school year, a figure that rises to 60,513 when charter school enrollment is included.

The district’s official demographics page describes VCS as the state’s fourteenth-largest school district, with over 61,400 students and more than 7,600 employees.

District composition includes 45 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, and 9 high schools, alongside alternative, charter, combination (grades 6-12), and virtual instruction programs.

Academic Performance

Volusia County Schools’ graduation rate rose 1.9 percentage points, from 93.7% in 2023-2024 to 95.6% in 2024-2025, marking a third consecutive annual increase, according to the district’s own reporting.

This performance context does not appear on the calendar itself but is relevant to families evaluating the district’s academic trajectory alongside its scheduling.

District Board Meetings and Additional Events

Beyond the instructional calendar, the Volusia County School Board holds monthly Workshops/Work Sessions at 12:30 PM and Regular School Board Meetings at 4:30 PM, generally on the second Tuesday of each month.

An Organizational Session is scheduled for Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at 9:30 AM, and a district Fact Fair is scheduled for Thursday, November 19, 2026, from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM.

These events run independently of the instructional calendar and are published separately on the district’s event calendar.

Inclement Weather and Makeup Days Policy

Volusia County Schools designates September 21, 2026, as its sole pre-scheduled inclement weather makeup day for the 2026-2027 school year.

This differs from the 2025-2026 calendar, which reserved two separate days (September 22 and November 24-25, 2025) for weather makeup purposes.

If no weather closures occur, September 21, 2026, functions as a standard Professional Development Day with no student attendance.

Central Florida’s Atlantic coast, including Volusia County, falls within the Atlantic hurricane season window of June 1 through November 30, which is why the district’s sole makeup day is positioned in September rather than later in the calendar.

This policy does not guarantee that a single makeup day will cover every possible closure. In years with multiple storm-related closures, the district may extend the school year, convert additional teacher duty days into student attendance days, or petition FLDOE for an instructional-hour waiver — none of which are reflected on the pre-published calendar.

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

This calendar reflects Volusia County Schools’ traditional district-operated instructional calendar and does not apply to charter schools within the county, which may adopt independent academic calendars, nor does it cover summer programs, athletics, or extracurricular scheduling, which districts typically publish separately.