‘Awful options’: MCPS considers starting school Aug. 20 for 2026-2027 academic year
County school board to vote on proposed calendar changes resulting from new state policy
By
Ashlyn CampbellApril 21, 2026 11:53 a.m. | Updated: April 21, 2026 11:56 a.m.
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Make a ContributionMontgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is considering starting its 2026-2027 academic year five days earlier – on Aug. 20 — despite approving the calendar in December, thanks to new guidance about school calendars from the Maryland State Board of Education.
“It’s critically important that we collect feedback of the three awful options we have to utilize, none of which we really wanted to go with,” MCPS Superintendent Thomas Taylor told the county school board during its Thursday meeting in Rockville. “We’d love to think through that process more thoroughly in a future year calendar, but as fate would have it, we have to address it in this upcoming year’s calendar.”
In December the school board approved a 2026-2027 academic calendar, with classes set to begin Aug. 25 and end June 16, 2027. Under the district’s proposed change, school would begin Aug. 20 with a transition day on Aug. 19, and ending on June 11, 2027.
The school board is expected to vote on the proposed changes on April 30.
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The previously approved calendar also included a total of 181 instructional days and four contingency days for inclement weather. A student transition day before classes begin for kindergarteners and rising sixth- and ninth graders was set for Aug. 24.
Winter break was scheduled for Dec. 23 until Jan. 3, 2027 – a total of 12 school days, including weekends. A 10-day spring break, including weekends, was set to occur from March 26, 2027 until April 4, 2027. The number of days off for each break was the same as the 2025-2026 calendar.
However, the Maryland State Board of Education adopted March 24 a resolution that updated guidance for calendar and inclement weather planning for school boards across the state, according to a Thursday presentation to the board by MCPS staff.
According to the resolution, districts can no longer extend the academic year beyond June 19, or Juneteenth; must embed and identify makeup days throughout the school year with options in the spring semester; and must adopt a contingency plan that includes three makeup days followed by virtual instruction or six makeup days.
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The changes limited how MCPS can adjust its previously adopted calendar, MCPS staff said.
“Given the structure of the MCPS calendar, our community values, which are so important to us, as well as the state requirements, our options to increase makeup days within the calendar are extremely limited,” MCPS Chief of Staff Essie McGuire told the school board.
As a result, McGuire said Taylor was recommending to start the school year on Aug. 20. The transition day would be held Aug. 19 and preservice training for teachers would begin Aug. 12. McGuire said there were pros and cons for the option.
“We do front-load instruction earlier in the year. We do provide time for additional professional development opportunities,” McGuire said. “There are challenges. There are shorter windows for summer programming and summer cleaning and our operational issues … and certainly, families and community members have expectations, in many cases, that involve time off in August.”
With the proposed changes, the school year would end June 11, with additional makeup days scheduled up between June 14 and 17.
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The district also recently adopted a virtual learning plan to offer on snow days after the state education board issued a mandate for all school systems to develop virtual learning plans for extended inclement weather.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine