Knox County Schools Calendar 2026-27: Fall Break, Winter Break, Spring Break and Last Day

Knox County Schools (KCS) in Knoxville, Tennessee, has winter break from Monday, Dec. 21, 2026 through Friday, Jan. 1, 2027, and spring break from Monday through Friday, March 8-12, 2027, according to the “Calendar - Knox County Schools” page on the district’s website. The last day for students is Wednesday, May 26, 2027, a half day. This is Knox County, Tennessee, not the Kentucky district of the same name.

The district page does not give a board approval date, so every date here is “as posted by the district” on Nov. 5, 2026. This story adds a table of every student day off and half day, a count of weekdays off by month, and the number of school days between breaks, all computed from the district’s dates. A printable school-year calendar is at the bottom of the page.

Knox County Schools breaks at a glance

Weekday counts are our arithmetic from the district’s dates.

Break	District’s dates	Weekdays off	Students return
Fall Break	Mon.-Fri., Oct. 5-9, 2026	5	Mon., Oct. 12, 2026
Thanksgiving Holidays	Wed.-Fri., Nov. 25-27, 2026	3	Mon., Nov. 30, 2026
Winter Break	Mon., Dec. 21, 2026 to Fri., Jan. 1, 2027	10	Tue., Jan. 5, 2027
Spring Break	Mon.-Fri., March 8-12, 2027	5	Mon., March 15, 2027

Only Jan. 5 is named on the page as a return: “First Day for Students after Winter Break (Full Day).” The other return days are the next weekdays for which the page lists no day off. Our Thanksgiving break dates by school district table compares other districts, and the winter break 2026 roundup does the same for December.

Every Knox County student day off and half day in 2026-27

Date	What the district lists
Mon., Aug. 10, 2026	First Day for Students (half day)
Mon., Sept. 7, 2026	Labor Day, holiday, Knox County Schools closed
Wed., Sept. 16, 2026	Half day for students
Mon.-Fri., Oct. 5-9, 2026	Fall Break
Tue., Nov. 3, 2026	Systemwide In-Service Day (Pre-K-12), student holiday
Wed., Nov. 18, 2026	Half day for students
Wed.-Fri., Nov. 25-27, 2026	Thanksgiving Holidays, Knox County Schools closed
Fri., Dec. 18, 2026	Half day for students; ends the second 9-weeks grading period and the first semester
Mon., Dec. 21, 2026 to Fri., Jan. 1, 2027	Winter Break
Mon., Jan. 4, 2027	Systemwide In-Service Day (half day, school-based)
Tue., Jan. 5, 2027	First Day for Students after Winter Break (full day)
Mon., Jan. 18, 2027	Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, holiday, Knox County Schools closed
Wed., Jan. 27, 2027	Half day for students
Mon., Feb. 15, 2027	Systemwide In-Service Day, student holiday
Mon.-Fri., March 8-12, 2027	Spring Break
Wed., March 24, 2027	Half day for students
Fri., March 26, 2027	Holiday, Knox County Schools closed
Mon., March 29, 2027	Holiday, Knox County Schools closed
Wed., April 7, 2027	Systemwide In-Service Day (school-based, Pre-K-12), student holiday
Wed., May 26, 2027	Last Day for Students (half day); ends the fourth 9-weeks grading period and the second semester

The page lists Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026 as “Veteran’s Day - All Day” in its month view only. It gives no closure wording for it, so it is left off this list. The page also does not say whether students attend the half-day in-service session on Jan. 4. For teachers, the page lists Thursday, May 27, 2027 as the last day, an administrative day.

How many weekdays off does Knox County have each month?

Counting every weekday the district lists as closed or a student holiday, including the breaks, there are 30 weekdays off between Aug. 10, 2026 and May 26, 2027. The eight half days are counted separately. December has the most, because winter break takes nine of its weekdays and Jan. 1 is the tenth.

Month	Weekdays off	Half days
August 2026	0	1 (Aug. 10)
September 2026	1	1 (Sept. 16)
October 2026	5	0
November 2026	4	1 (Nov. 18)
December 2026	9	1 (Dec. 18)
January 2027	2	2 (Jan. 4 and 27)
February 2027	1	0
March 2027	7	1 (March 24)
April 2027	1	0
May 2027	0	1 (May 26)
Total	30	8

March 2027 has the second-largest total, with spring break plus the March 26 and 29 holidays. The March 2027 printable calendar shows how they sit around the half day on March 24.

How many school days fall between Knox County breaks?

The stretches below are weekdays with school between the district’s days off, counting half days as school days. The first stretch is the longest, a little under eight weeks.

Stretch	Dates	Weekdays of school
Start to fall break	Aug. 10 to Oct. 2, 2026	39
Fall break to Nov. 3	Oct. 12 to Nov. 2, 2026	16
Nov. 3 to Thanksgiving	Nov. 4 to Nov. 24, 2026	15
Thanksgiving to winter break	Nov. 30 to Dec. 18, 2026	15
Winter break to Presidents’ Day week	Jan. 5 to Feb. 12, 2027	28
Feb. 15 to spring break	Feb. 16 to March 5, 2027	14
Spring break to March 26	March 15 to March 25, 2027	9
March 29 to April 7	March 30 to April 6, 2027	6
April 7 to last day	April 8 to May 26, 2027	35
Total		177

The 177 total, which leaves out the Jan. 4 half day, matches the number in the district’s footnote: “177 student instructional days plus three (3) days accumulated under daily 7-hour schedule.”

What is the 180-day rule and how do weather closures work?

The district page lists “180” instructional days, with the footnote above. It also says the calendar allows “up to 8 instructional days due to inclement weather or serious outbreaks of illness before any makeup days will be required.” In other words, the page gives eight closures of that kind before makeup days begin. It does not list the makeup dates. The district writes that “once approved, the finalized calendar is published.”

When does Knox County start winter break and spring break?

Winter break starts Monday, Dec. 21, 2026, after a half day for students on Friday, Dec. 18. By our count, students are out for 16 days in a row from Saturday, Dec. 19 through Sunday, Jan. 3, then Jan. 4 is the half-day in-service day and Jan. 5 is the first full day back. The December 2026 printable calendar shows the weeks.

Spring break is Monday through Friday, March 8-12, 2027, and the district lists no other days off that week. Two more days follow later: Friday, March 26 and Monday, March 29 are each listed as “Holiday (Knox County Schools Closed),” which makes a four-day weekend. Another Tennessee district, Nashville, has its own dates in our Metro Nashville Public Schools calendar story.

Does the Knox County 2027-28 calendar have dates yet?

The same district page has a “Next Year” section. As listed on the district page, with status not stated, the first day for students in 2027-28 is Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2027, and the last day is Wednesday, May 24, 2028, a half day. The page does not say whether the board has approved those dates, so treat them as subject to change.

Print the Knox County school-year calendar

The printable puts the first and last day, the breaks, the holidays, the student-holiday in-service days and the half days on a 10-month sheet, with space for conferences and picture day. It uses only the district’s dates. The district also links a printer-friendly copy from its calendar page, and our printable school-year calendar has a blank layout.