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The Official Calendar for the 2026-2027 Cycle Has Been Released: What Your Private School Needs to Know

September 21, 2026 · 4 min read

The SEP published the 2026-2027 school calendar via Bulletin 235: here are the exact dates your private school needs to create its own operational calendar.

What Is Already Official

The Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) published the 2026-2027 school calendar through Bulletin 235. The cycle begins on August 31, 2026 and ends on July 9, 2027, with 185 effective school days for preschool, elementary, and middle school. For normal education and other teacher training institutions, the cycle runs from August 31, 2026, to July 13, 2027, with 190 effective days.

The bulletin explicitly states who it applies to: it covers "preschool, elementary, and middle schools, both public and private, incorporated into the National Education System (SEN)." If your private school has Official Recognition of Validity of Studies (RVOE) or depends on an incorporated state system, this calendar—with its start dates, breaks, and suspension days—is the one you should follow, unless your local education authority publishes its own calendar with minor adjustments (some states shift one or two days for local festivities, without changing the total of 185 days).

The Two Breaks

The calendar includes two vacation periods:

- Winter Break: from December 21, 2026, to January 5, 2027. Classes resume on January 7, 2027.

- Spring Break: from March 22 to April 3, 2027.

It's important to note a detail that can cause confusion: winter break ends on January 5, but classes don't start again until January 7. January 6 is outside the vacation period and, however, it is not a regular school day: it is a day of suspension of teaching activities, as explained in the next section.

Teacher Work Suspension Days

In addition to the two long breaks, the bulletin sets specific days for suspension of teaching activities throughout the cycle: September 16, November 2 and 16, and December 25, 2026; and January 1 and 6, February 1, March 15, and May 5, 2027.

It's important not to confuse this category with "teacher work without students": the bulletin classifies these as total work suspension days, not days when staff work while students are on break. For administrative planning, your school should treat them the same as non-working days, not as internal teacher work days.

School Technical Council: Intensive Phase and Eight Sessions

Before classes start, there is an intensive phase of the School Technical Council (CTE) from August 24 to 28, 2026, the week prior to the start of classes. Based on this, eight regular CTE sessions are scheduled during the cycle: in 2026, on September 25, October 30, and November 27; and in 2027, on January 29, February 26, April 30, May 28, and June 25.

On these dates, there are no classes for students because teachers dedicate the day to collaborative work: reviewing results, adjusting lesson plans, and addressing school priorities. For a private school, this means nine fixed dates—the intensive phase plus the eight sessions—that should already be included in the calendar shared with families, along with the breaks and suspension days.

For normal education, the equivalent planning period runs from August 17 to 28, 2026.

2027-2028 Pre-Registrations: The Date That Is Already Set

Unlike cycles where this information is announced separately and closer to the date, Bulletin 235 already establishes it: pre-registrations for preschool, first grade of elementary, and first grade of middle school for the 2027-2028 school year will take place from February 2 to 12, 2027. Coincidentally, this is the week after one of the CTE sessions (January 29).

For a private school, this has a direct impact on the internal calendar: the new enrollment pre-registration window for the next cycle falls just over a month before the start of the second semester, leaving a short window between closing current cycle registrations and opening the next. It’s advisable to block that week in February now in the administrative calendar, especially if your school offers promotions or discounts for early registration.

What to Do With This in Your School

The official calendar is the minimum standard: it sets the minimum number of school days, mandatory breaks, and fixed dates that cannot be moved. Based on this, each private school creates its own operational calendar—events, report card deliveries, parent meetings—making sure not to clash with the nine CTE dates or teacher work suspension days, and preparing the pre-registration logistics for the first half of February 2027.

If your school belongs to a state system, confirm with your local education authority if there are adjustments to the federal calendar before publishing your own: some states shift one or two days for local festivities without changing the total of 185 effective days.