The Comal ISD board of trustees approved academic calendars for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years during its Jan. 22 meeting.
What you need to know
All three calendars, the current 2025-26 calendar and the newly approved 2026-27 and 2027-28 calendars, contain the same number of instructional days, instructional minutes and staff development days, Ben Peacock, Comal ISD’s director of secondary leadership, said.
Spring break will fall during the second week of March in both years, aligning with Northeast Lakeview College’s schedule, where several hundred Comal ISD students attend the college for dual-credit coursework, Peacock said during a Dec. 11 meeting.
The details
The new academic calendars were developed with guidance from the Districtwide Educational Improvement Council, or DEIC, a committee made up of teachers, administrators, parents, business leaders and community members. The process began in September to create calendars for two school years at once, providing greater predictability for families and staff, according to board documents.
The DEIC identified several key priorities, all of which were incorporated into the final drafts, in the initial presentation Dec. 11. Those priorities include:
- Starting school on a Tuesday in August
- Ending the school year before Memorial Day
- Staff development day in January, before students return from winter break
- Long Easter weekend
- Early-release days at the end of semesters
- Two weeks of professional development in August
- Full week off for Thanksgiving
- Long Presidents Day weekend
- Elementary early-release days for parent-teacher conferences in October
How we got here
Draft calendars were created in early October and reviewed by support services departments before being brought back to the DEIC for feedback. After multiple revisions and meetings, the calendars were finalized in December, Peacock said.
The primary difference between the newly approved calendars and recent years is a later start date in August, which results in the school year ending one week later in May. Despite the shift, both calendars still end before Memorial Day, according to the meeting presentation.
Adjustments were necessary to accommodate graduation schedules and a new state assessment system, the Student Success Tool, which requires a longer testing window beginning in May 2028. The later end date allows the district to maximize instructional days in May while still meeting community expectations, Peacock said.
For more information on the new academic calendars, visit www.comalisd.org/apps/pages/calendars.
