Texas School Calendar 2026-2027: Spring Break & Winter Break Dates
Texas has more than 1,000 school districts — more than any other state — so its school holidays are statewide windows, not fixed dates. For 2026-27 and 2027-28, most Texas schools open between August 10 and 17 and finish between May 20 and 29. Houston ISD, the state's largest district, generally anchors the big-city calendar alongside Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio.
Texas law sets the fourth Monday of August as the default start, but many districts hold 'District of Innovation' status that lets them open earlier in August — which is why first-day windows span a full week. Two local signatures to know: San Antonio-area schools observe Battle of Flowers (April 24), and most districts statewide take a full Thanksgiving week, a tradition Texas keeps more consistently than most states.
Spring break clusters around March 16-20 but splits by metro, and STAAR testing season in spring can add no-travel constraints for families with test-year students. Confirm exact dates with your district before booking.
The dates below are statewide planning windows for 2026-27 and 2027-28: our estimate of when most Texas schools take each break. They are not any one district's official calendar, so check your own district's calendar before booking travel.
Last updated: · Next review: January 2027
Dates vary by district. Use the statewide windows below for planning, then confirm with your local school district calendar before booking travel. Read how we source these dates.
Texas district calendars
The dates above are the statewide window. These districts publish their own calendars, and where they differ, the district date is the one that applies to your school:
- Houston ISD calendar
School starts August 10, 2026, ends May 28, 2027.
- Dallas ISD calendar
School starts August 11, 2026, ends May 26, 2027.
- Austin ISD calendar
School starts August 18, 2026, ends May 27, 2027.
- Cypress-Fairbanks ISD calendar
School starts August 12, 2026, ends May 27, 2027.
- Northside ISD calendar
School starts August 10, 2026, ends May 26, 2027.
Largest school districts in Texas
5 districts enroll 12% of Texas's district students. The other 1,015 districts each set a calendar of their own, so two schools a few miles apart can break in different weeks.
Separately, 8% of Texas's public school students attend charter schools or other public agencies outside a regular district. Those schools adopt their own calendars too.
| District | Students | Calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Houston ISDHouston | 176,727274 schools | View dates |
| Dallas ISDDallas | 139,802239 schools | View dates |
| Cypress-Fairbanks ISDCypress | 117,92794 schools | View dates |
| Northside ISDSan Antonio | 100,208128 schools | View dates |
| Katy ISDKaty | 96,11179 schools | Check the district's website |
Enrollment and district counts: NCES Common Core of Data, LEA directory 2024-25 (via Urban Institute Education Data API). Counts cover regular local school districts; enrollment is fall 2024.
How Texas law shapes the school calendar
- Start and end dates
- Start: after the fourth Monday in August.
- Finish: after May 15th.
- Tex. Educ. Code Ann. § 25.0811; Tex. Educ. Code Ann. § 25.0812
- Minimum instructional time
- 75,600 minutes
- Includes time for instruction, intermission and recess.
- For comparison, the instructional minutes are equivalent to:
- 1,260 hours
- Tex. Educ. Code Ann. § 25.081
Source: Education Commission of the States 50-state comparison, published January 2020 (days and hours, start and finish dates). Calendar statutes change, so check the cited section for the current text. Every state side by side: school calendar laws by state.
Good to know in Texas
Texas districts frequently utilize 'Bad Weather Days' (makeup days) in early spring. San Antonio districts uniquely observe a holiday for the Battle of Flowers parade.
Texas districts often use 'Districts of Innovation' status to start earlier than the state-mandated fourth Monday of August.
Texas's 2027-2028 year continues with the full week Thanksgiving break tradition in most districts.
Texas school breaks: quick answers
The most searched Texas dates for 2026-27 at a glance.
When is winter break in Texas 2026-27?
Winter break in Texas (2026-27) is December 21, 2026 - January 1, 2027.
When is spring break in Texas 2026-27?
Spring break in Texas (2026-27) is March 15 - 19, 2027.
When is summer break in Texas 2026-27?
Summer break in Texas (2026-27) is May 30, 2027 - August 8, 2027. Exact dates vary by district — confirm with your local school calendar.
When does school start and end in Texas 2026-27?
School in Texas (2026-27) starts August 10 - 17, 2026 and ends May 20 - 29, 2027.
Sources & verification
The statewide windows are our planning estimates, not transcribed from a single official calendar. District pages linked above are transcribed from each district's own published calendar. Official sources for Texas:
Compare with other states
Planning guides:
- When does school start in America? Start dates by state
- When does school end in America? Last day of school by state
- US summer break 2027 dates by state
- Spring break 2027 & 2028 dates by state
- Winter break dates by state
- Thanksgiving break dates by state
- Easter school holidays and the spring break overlap
- Back-to-school planning guide
- Easter and Good Friday dates 2027-2036
- Thanksgiving dates 2027-2036
Research from our own calendar data: