How many days are actually in a school year?

176 days in a school year at the median district we track for 2026-27, from 149 to 185. 36% of districts schedule 180 or more.

Is there 200 days in a school year?

No. The most days in a school year on any 2026-27 calendar we track is 185. West Virginia's 200-day figure is the teacher employment term, not student days.

Are there 39 weeks in a school year?

From the first day to the last, the median 2026-27 calendar we track spans about 41 weeks, including breaks; take out the weeks off and the school days add up to about 35 five-day weeks.

Do all states require 180 school days?

No. Of the 13 states we cover, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota and West Virginia set only an hours minimum, and most others accept hours instead of days. Kansas sets 186 days, Louisiana 177 and Arkansas 178 on a traditional calendar.

Which schools have a four-day week?

In our data, Española Public Schools (New Mexico, no school on Fridays) and Evangeline Parish Schools (Louisiana, no school on Mondays).

How Many Days in a School Year 2026-27? Calendars and State Law

Days in a school year 2026-27 run from 149 at Evangeline Parish Schools, Louisiana, which has no school on Mondays, to 185 at Rio Rancho Public Schools; the median district schedules 176 student days, and 4 of the 13 states we cover set no minimum number of days at all, only hours.

TL;DR

Median district: 176 student days on its 2026-27 calendar (our count of the calendar, not an official instructional-day total), about 41 weeks from the first day to the last.
65 of 179 districts (36%) schedule 180 days or more; 24 schedule fewer than 170.
Fewest: Evangeline Parish Schools (149), Española Public Schools (156) and Blue Valley Schools (161). Most: Rio Rancho Public Schools (185), New Haven Public Schools (185) and Los Alamos Public Schools (185).
Four-day school weeks: Española Public Schools (no school on Fridays) and Evangeline Parish Schools (no school on Mondays).
State law: Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota and West Virginia count hours only; Mississippi requires a set number of days with no hours option.
Laws changed since the 2023 state comparisons: West Virginia moved from 180 days to 900 hours, Missouri added a 169-day floor for larger districts and New Mexico now requires 1,140 hours.
Calendars read from each district's official 2026-27 file, last checked October 15, 2026; state laws read from the current statute text on October 11, 2026.

Days in a school year 2026-27: districts by student days on the calendar, by state

180 days or more170 to 179Under 170

state	Median days in a school year	Range	State law minimum
Connecticut	181 days	177 to 185	180 days and 900 hours
Mississippi	180 days	180 to 181	180 days
New Hampshire	180 days	175 to 183	180 days or 945 to 990 hours
New Mexico	180 days	156 to 185	hours only: 1,140
Rhode Island	180 days	178 to 182	180 days or 1,080 hours
Arkansas	175 days	168 to 180	178 days, or 1,068 hours on an alternate calendar
West Virginia	175 days	173 to 180	hours only: 900
Iowa	174 days	164 to 178	180 days or 1,080 hours
Nebraska	174 days	164 to 179	hours only: 1,032 elementary, 1,080 high school
North Dakota	173 days	172 to 177	hours only: 962.5 elementary, 1,050 middle and high
Louisiana	172 days	149 to 176	177 days of 360 minutes
Missouri	170 days	169 to 173	1,044 hours; larger districts also 169 days
Kansas	169 days	161 to 173	186 days, or 1,116 hours by board policy

By the School Year Calendars team · Updated October 15, 2026

How Many Days in a School Year 2026-27?

Counted from each district's own calendar, the days in a school year 2026-27 range from 149 to 185, with a median of 176. 65 districts schedule 180 or more, 90 schedule 170 to 179 and 24 schedule fewer than 170. The longest calendars are Rio Rancho Public Schools (185), New Haven Public Schools (185) and Los Alamos Public Schools (185); the shortest are Evangeline Parish Schools (149), Española Public Schools (156) and Blue Valley Schools (161).

Which Districts Have the Fewest Days in a School Year 2026-27?

The two shortest calendars belong to four-day school weeks. Evangeline Parish Schools has no school on Mondays for most of the year and schedules 149 student days. Española Public Schools has no school on Fridays for most of the year and schedules 156 student days. New Mexico sets only an hours minimum, so a longer school day can stand in for the fifth day. Louisiana's law reads 177 days of 360 minutes; our 149 is a count of the days on Evangeline's calendar, not the state's official instructional total, and the district page shows every date we counted. Outside these two, the fewest days in a school year belong to Kansas districts.

How Many Days in a School Year 2026-27 Does Each State Require?

4 of the 13 states (Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota and West Virginia) set the school year only in hours. Mississippi counts days alone, with no hours option; Connecticut requires both 180 days and 900 hours, Missouri requires 1,044 hours plus 169 days for larger districts, and the rest accept days or an hours equivalent. Every Kansas calendar we read has fewer than 186 student days (161 to 173), which the Kansas law allows when a board adopts an hours-based term. Several of these laws changed after the widely cited 2023 state comparisons: West Virginia moved from 180 days to 900 hours, Missouri added a 169-day floor for larger districts from July 2026 and New Mexico raised its minimum to 1,140 hours.

Connecticut: 180 days and 900 hours; 181 days in a school year at the median district

Connecticut requires both: "no less than one hundred eighty days of actual school sessions" and "nine hundred hours of actual school work" for full-day kindergarten through grade 12. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-16. Days in a school year across the 27 Connecticut districts we cover run from 177 (West Haven Public Schools) to 185 (Greenwich Public Schools).

Mississippi: 180 days; 180 days in a school year at the median district

Mississippi: public schools "shall be kept in session for at least one hundred eighty (180) days in each scholastic year". Miss. Code Ann. § 37-13-63. Days in a school year across the 9 Mississippi districts we cover run from 180 (Rankin County School District) to 181 (Ocean Springs School District).

New Hampshire: 180 days or 945 to 990 hours; 180 days in a school year at the median district

New Hampshire schools need "180 days of instruction or the required number of instructional hours, which may result in fewer than 180 days": 945 hours for grades 1 to 6 and 990 for grades 7 to 12. N.H. Code Admin. R. Ed 306.15. Days in a school year across the 13 New Hampshire districts we cover run from 175 (Exeter Region Cooperative School District) to 183 (Hudson School District).

New Mexico: hours only: 1,140; 180 days in a school year at the median district

New Mexico sets no number of days: students "shall be in school programs, exclusive of lunch, for a minimum of one thousand one hundred forty instructional hours per year". NMSA 1978 § 22-2-8.1. Days in a school year across the 14 New Mexico districts we cover run from 156 (Española Public Schools) to 185 (Los Alamos Public Schools).

Rhode Island: 180 days or 1,080 hours; 180 days in a school year at the median district

Rhode Island districts must hold school "for at least one hundred eighty (180) days annually or the equivalent thereof", provided they offer "a minimum of one thousand eighty (1,080) school hours". R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-2-2. Days in a school year across the 14 Rhode Island districts we cover run from 178 (North Providence Public Schools) to 182 (Central Falls School District).

Arkansas: 178 days, or 1,068 hours on an alternate calendar; 175 days in a school year at the median district

Arkansas districts may use an alternate calendar of "at least one thousand sixty-eight (1,068) hours of instructional time", and then "there shall not be a minimum number of school days"; the state education department's calendar guidance puts a traditional calendar at 178 days. Ark. Code Ann. § 6-10-106(g). Days in a school year across the 14 Arkansas districts we cover run from 168 (Conway Public Schools) to 180 (Bentonville Schools).

West Virginia: hours only: 900; 175 days in a school year at the median district

West Virginia now counts hours, not days: the calendar must give "an instructional term for students of no less than 900 hours" inside an employment term of at least 200 days. W. Va. Code § 18-5-45. Days in a school year across the 11 West Virginia districts we cover run from 173 (Mason County Schools) to 180 (Nicholas County Schools).

Iowa: 180 days or 1,080 hours; 174 days in a school year at the median district

Iowa's calendar "shall include not less than one hundred eighty days or one thousand eighty hours of instruction". Iowa Code § 279.10. Days in a school year across the 11 Iowa districts we cover run from 164 (Waterloo Community Schools) to 178 (North Scott Community School District).

Nebraska: hours only: 1,032 elementary, 1,080 high school; 174 days in a school year at the median district

Nebraska sets no number of days: the term "shall not be less than (1) one thousand thirty-two instructional hours for elementary grades and (2) one thousand eighty instructional hours for high school grades". Neb. Rev. Stat. § 79-211. Days in a school year across the 19 Nebraska districts we cover run from 164 (Kearney Public Schools) to 179 (Lexington Public Schools).

North Dakota: hours only: 962.5 elementary, 1,050 middle and high; 173 days in a school year at the median district

North Dakota sets no number of days: the calendar must include "at least nine hundred sixty-two and one-half hours of instruction for elementary school students and one thousand fifty hours of instruction for middle and high school students". N.D.C.C. § 15.1-06-04. Days in a school year across the 9 North Dakota districts we cover run from 172 (Grand Forks Public Schools) to 177 (Fargo Public Schools).

Louisiana: 177 days of 360 minutes; 172 days in a school year at the median district

Louisiana: "The minimum school year shall consist of one hundred seventy-seven days of instruction", with a minimum school day of "three hundred sixty minutes of instructional time" for grades 1 to 12. La. R.S. 17:154.1. Days in a school year across the 9 Louisiana districts we cover run from 149 (Evangeline Parish Schools) to 176 (Jefferson Parish Schools).

Missouri: 1,044 hours; larger districts also 169 days; 170 days in a school year at the median district

Missouri requires "at least one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance", and from July 1, 2026, districts in a charter county or a city of more than 30,000 people also need "a minimum of one hundred and sixty-nine school days". RSMo § 171.031. Days in a school year across the 18 Missouri districts we cover run from 169 (Francis Howell School District) to 173 (Liberty Public Schools).

Kansas: 186 days, or 1,116 hours by board policy; 169 days in a school year at the median district

Kansas sets "not less than 186 school days" for kindergarten through grade 11 (181 for grade 12), but a local board "may provide for a school term consisting of school hours": 1,116 hours for grades 1 to 11. K.S.A. 72-3115. Days in a school year across the 11 Kansas districts we cover run from 161 (Blue Valley Schools) to 173 (Spring Hill Schools (USD 230)).

How We Count Days in a School Year 2026-27

Our count is the number of weekdays from each district's first day of school to its last day, minus the weekdays the calendar marks with no students (holidays, breaks, teacher workdays and conference days). Early release days count as school days. Because one rule is applied to every calendar, the counts compare fairly across districts and states. It is not the district's official count of instructional days: snow make-up days, staggered starts and days with remote or outside-school learning are counted differently in each state, so a district can meet its legal minimum with a different number than ours. Calendars were last checked October 15, 2026; the laws were read from the current statute or rule text on October 11, 2026, and each state section links the text we read. How we read every calendar is on the About page.

How Many Days in a School Year 2026-27? Calendars and State Law FAQ

How many days are actually in a school year?: 176 days in a school year at the median district we track for 2026-27, from 149 to 185. 36% of districts schedule 180 or more.
Is there 200 days in a school year?: No. The most days in a school year on any 2026-27 calendar we track is 185. West Virginia's 200-day figure is the teacher employment term, not student days.
Are there 39 weeks in a school year?: From the first day to the last, the median 2026-27 calendar we track spans about 41 weeks, including breaks; take out the weeks off and the school days add up to about 35 five-day weeks.
Do all states require 180 school days?: No. Of the 13 states we cover, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota and West Virginia set only an hours minimum, and most others accept hours instead of days. Kansas sets 186 days, Louisiana 177 and Arkansas 178 on a traditional calendar.
Which schools have a four-day week?: In our data, Española Public Schools (New Mexico, no school on Fridays) and Evangeline Parish Schools (Louisiana, no school on Mondays).