Colorado school holidays

Colorado has no statewide calendar and no mandated start date, and the three large Front Range districts on this page have landed a fortnight apart. Douglas County School District goes back first on August 12, 2026, Jeffco Public Schools on August 19 and Denver Public Schools on August 24. Jeffco and Douglas County both finish on May 27, 2027, while Denver runs a week longer to June 4.

Colorado measures its year in instructional hours rather than days, which gives districts room to build four-day weeks and longer breaks into the calendar. It is also why the autumn looks so different from one county to the next.

Fall break is the main point of difference. Douglas County takes a full week, October 12 to 16, 2026. Jeffco takes two days, October 12 and 13. Denver Public Schools takes no fall break at all, so Denver children are in school while Douglas County children are off for a week just twenty miles down I-25.

Thanksgiving is the one thing all three agree on: the full week of November 23 to 27, 2026 everywhere. That makes it the most reliably busy week of the Colorado autumn.

Winter break starts on December 21, 2026 in all three districts. Denver and Douglas County run to January 1, and Jeffco extends to January 5, with Jeffco students not back in class until January 6 and Denver and Douglas County returning on January 5 after a planning day.

Spring break then falls in three consecutive weeks. Douglas County takes March 15 to 19, 2027, Jeffco March 22 to 26, and Denver March 29 to April 2. Nothing overlaps.

Those three consecutive spring break weeks are worth understanding before you book a ski trip. Late March in Summit County is busy for three weeks running rather than one, but never at the intensity you get in a state where everybody breaks together. If you want the quietest of the three, take the Douglas County week, since it is the earliest and the snow is usually still holding.

The Denver fall gap works the other way. Because Denver Public Schools does not break in October, mid-October in Rocky Mountain National Park and the mountain towns is quiet, and the aspens are at their best.

Snow is the standing caveat. Jeffco holds February 12, March 29 and April 30, 2027 as potential make-up days, so a hard winter can eat into the end of spring break. Douglas County's charter and alternative schools also run their own calendars, so the dates here are the conventional-calendar ones.

This page covers Denver Public Schools, Jeffco Public Schools and Douglas County School District.