Greenville County Schools has released the 2026-27 student calendar. Students will start the school year on Tuesday, August 11, 2026. The last day of school will be Thursday, May 27, 2027.
As a reminder, GCS releases calendars two school years in advance so families and staff can plan ahead. The 2025-26 student calendar for the upcoming school year was released in January 2024.
In accordance with state law, the calendar includes 180 scheduled instructional days and ten professional development/teacher workdays.
The last day of school before Winter Break will be Friday, December 18, 2026, and the first day back will be Tuesday, January 5, 2027. Spring Break is March 22-26, 2027. The day before Winter Break (December 18, 2026) and the last two days of school (May 26-27, 2027) will be half-days for students.
Other holidays include Labor Day (September 7, 2026), Election Day (November 3, 2026) Thanksgiving Break (November 25-27, 2026), Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January 18, 2027) and Presidents’ Day (February 15, 2027).
In addition, students are out of school on March 29 and April 16, 2027 and four professional development/teacher workdays: October 16, 2026, November 2, 2026, January 4, 2027, and March 12, 2027.
High school graduations are scheduled for May 24-27, 2027.
The Superintendent finalizes the school calendar after receiving recommendations from the Calendar Committee, which comprises parents, teachers, principals, and district administrators. The Committee meets annually and has a process to gain input from parent groups and school faculties, and its recommendations reflect state requirements and factors such as the required number of instructional days and testing dates set by the State Department of Education and additional considerations such as maximizing academic and instructional time for students, operational functions such as entering grades at the end of each quarter, and assuring professional development days for teachers.
Written by Greenville County Schools.