Chicago Public Schools students will now have a longer summer break, according to the district’s academic calendar that was finalized this week.
Students in kindergarten through grade 12 can look forward to 81 days of summer before the 2026-2027 school year, a whole two weeks longer than last summer.
On Thursday, CPS announced the Board of Education adopted their calendar for the next two school years, 2026-2027 and 2027-2028.
Summer break in both 2026 and 2027 will both start earlier and last longer in comparison to summer 2025.
The current school year ends on June 4 — 8 days earlier than school ended in 2025, on June 12. The 2026-2027 school year will kick off on August 24, six days later than school started for the current academic year. That means summer will last 81 days, quite a bit longer than the 67-day summer of 2025.
Pre-k students will have the 83 days off, with the 2025-2026 school year ending on June 3 and the next year starting on August 25.
The upcoming school year — 2026-2027 — will still have a longer summer than 2025, though not quite as long as the 2025-2026 school year.
The next school year will end June 11, 2027 for K-12 and on June 10, 2027 for pre-K students. Classes will be out until the following school year starts on August 23, 2027 for K-12 and on August 24 for pre-k — a total of 73 days of summer for K-12 and 75 for pre-k.
CPS has not released a calendar for the 2028-2029 school year, so it is not clear how long summer break after the 2026-2027 school year will be. However, we do know summer break in 2028 will again start earlier than last year — on June 8, 2028.
The finalized calendar “reflects the priorities and needs identified by Chicago Public Schools (CPS) staff, parents, students, labor partners and community members through extensive engagement and surveys,” CPS said in a statement.
More than 36,000 responses were collected by CPS across two surveys to “help guide key decisions,” the district said.
“Our teaching and learning department took great care to collect meaningful data and responses from our community and school partners to ensure our academic calendar works best for the families we serve,” said Dr. Macquline King, CPS’ Interim CEO/Superintendent. “We are keenly aware that these decisions directly impact students’ learning and wellbeing. By listening to families, staff and students, we have designed a calendar that best supports their success in school and beyond.”
The dates for spring break are consistent across the two calendars, something survey respondents highlighted was important for that time of the year, CPS said. The district added that only a minority of respondents expressed interest in aligning religious holidays, like Easter, with spring break.
Labor Day was another major consideration for the district, with complications arising from the holiday falling later in September for the next two years. Students will have three weeks after winter break to finish the first semester to ensure they have time to fulfill the required number of high school semester credits.
Both calendars are consistent in having the same number of instruction days, including 176 student attendance days, four teacher institute days, four school improvement days, two parent-teacher conference days anf four professional development days.
Key dates on the academic calendar for the next two years
2026-2027
K-12 First day of school: Monday, August 25, 2026 Last day of school: Friday, June 1, 2027 Pre-k First day of school: Tuesday, August 25, 2026 Last day of school: Thursday, June 10, 2027 Winter break: December 21, 2026 through January 1, 2027 Spring break: March 22 through March 26, 20272027-2028
K-12 First day of school: Monday, August 23, 2027 Last day of school: Friday, June 9, 2028 Pre-k First day of school: Tuesday, August 24, 2027 Last day of school: Thursday, June 8, 2028 Winter break: December 20 through December 31, 2027 Spring break: March 20 through March 24, 2028The complete finalized calendars can be found here.
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