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PSD board reviews proposed 2026'1*27 calendar; committee recommends Aug. 19 student start
Summary
At a first reading, the calendar committee presented a recommended 2026'27 calendar that would have staff return Aug. 10, a transition day Aug. 18 and students start Aug. 19, while preserving a five-day fall break, meeting CDE hour/day requirements and clustering non-student contact days for professional learning.
The Poudre School District R-1 Board of Education reviewed the calendar committee's recommended calendar for the 2026'27 school year at a first reading Tuesday. Committee co-chairs Cheryl Day and Brian Kiel said the recommended plan meets Colorado Department of Education requirements (a minimum of 160 student days and 1,080 total instructional hours, with at least 360 hours in the first semester) while shifting the student start to Aug. 19 and staff start to Aug. 10.
Under the recommended "Version 1," staff would begin Aug. 10, students would start Aug. 19 after an Aug. 18 transition day, the first semester would end Dec. 18, and the last day of school would be May 28. The committee said it was able to preserve a five-day fall break and a two-week winter break while staying within statutory and collective-bargaining constraints. Travel and college-concurrent-enrollment schedules shaped some high-school-level constraints, the presenters said.
The committee also explained its rationale for front-loading non-student contact days to reduce the impact of summer heat on buildings and to create time for staff collaboration and professional learning. Presenters noted elementary schedules include three additional non-student contact days relative to secondary, in part to meet early-childhood program requirements housed in some elementary schools.
Board members asked whether the calendar accounts for early-childhood funding and snow or heat-release days. The committee responded that early-childhood universal pre-K reimbursement varies by program length (10-, 15- or 30-hour weekly programs) and that the difference in reimbursement can be roughly $1,200 per pupil; they also said the CDE minimum-hour calculation includes a buffer for weather or heat-release events. The committee said it assumed no change to instructional-minute rules in preparing this version and that the board will take a second look in December before final approval.
If adopted after the required approval steps, communications staff will publish the adopted calendar and HR will prepare staff-specific calendars in spring.
