Rio Grande Valley families comparing school districts face a Spring Break landscape that is the reverse of San Antonio's. In the SA area, the March 8-12 week dominates. In the RGV, March 15-19 is the near-universal standard: 14 of 16 districts in the current dataset use the later week.
The planning differences live in three other places. First day spans from August 10 to August 24 — the full two weeks that separate the early starters from the late starters. Last day spans from May 20 to June 2 — a 13-day spread that determines whether summer begins before Memorial Day or after it. Brownsville ISD and Harlingen CISD publish dedicated October fall breaks that do not appear on any other RGV district calendar.
This guide covers 16 districts across the Rio Grande Valley, from Brownsville to Roma, including the Laredo-area United ISD. It focuses on the dates where districts differ. For individual district calendars, use the links in the table below or visit the RGV district pages.
Quick Answer
The RGV first day clusters heavily at August 10-12 (11 districts). Three districts start August 17-18. Two districts — Edinburg CISD and Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD — start August 24, the latest openings in the region.
Spring Break is March 15-19 for 14 of 16 districts. Roma ISD and United ISD are the only two on March 8-12.
The most common last day is May 26 (six districts). San Benito CISD ends earliest at May 20. McAllen ISD and PSJA ISD end latest at June 2 — the only RGV districts whose calendars extend into June.
Thanksgiving week is November 23-27 for all 16 districts. Winter Break begins December 21 for all 16. These two breaks are uniform across the RGV.
First Day: Three Clusters, Two Weeks
The first-day range in the RGV is August 10 to August 24 — 14 calendar days. Eleven of 16 districts open during the first three days of that window.
August 10-12: The dominant cluster. Brownsville ISD, Donna ISD, Rio Grande City CISD, Roma ISD, San Benito CISD, and Weslaco ISD start August 10. Harlingen CISD, La Joya ISD, and Mission CISD start August 11. Mercedes ISD and United ISD start August 12. These 11 districts give families the shortest summer in the RGV.
August 17-18: The mid-August group. McAllen ISD and Sharyland ISD start August 17. Los Fresnos CISD starts August 18. These three districts give families one more week of summer compared with the dominant cluster.
August 24: The fourth-Monday alignment. Edinburg CISD and PSJA ISD start August 24 — the Monday of the fourth-Monday-in-August baseline in Texas Education Code Section 25.0811. These two districts are the only RGV calendars that still track the statutory start-date rule. A child in Edinburg or PSJA gets two more weeks of summer than a child in Brownsville or Rio Grande City.
The first-day difference translates directly to summer-length difference. Two weeks of summer changes camp session bookings, family travel windows, and the back-to-school preparation timeline. The gap is largest between the August 10 starters and the August 24 starters, where the summer difference is a full 14 days.
Spring Break: March 15-19, With Two Exceptions
The RGV Spring Break is nearly as aligned as San Antonio's, but on the opposite week. Houston splits between the two March weeks. DFW leans March 15-19 with scattered exceptions. The RGV is almost entirely March 15-19 — a single-week consensus across 14 districts.
The two exceptions are Roma ISD and United ISD, both on March 8-12. Roma sits at the western edge of the RGV in Starr County. United ISD is based in Laredo, outside the geographic RGV, but shares a Spring Break week with Roma that differs from every other border-region district in the dataset.
For families with children in multiple RGV districts, the Roma and United exceptions are the only Spring Break conflicts. A family comparing any other pair of RGV districts — Brownsville to McAllen, Harlingen to Weslaco, Mission to PSJA — will find the same March 15-19 Spring Break week.
Last Day: From May 20 to June 2
Thirteen calendar days separate the earliest RGV last day — San Benito CISD at May 20 — from the latest at McAllen ISD and PSJA ISD on June 2. That is nearly a two-week planning gap for summer camps, vacation start dates, and shared-custody summer handoffs.
May 20-21: Earliest endings. San Benito CISD ends May 20. Rio Grande City CISD ends May 21. These are the only RGV districts that finish before Memorial Day weekend. Combined with their August 10 first days, San Benito and Rio Grande City have the most compressed school years in the region.
May 26-28: The dominant cluster. Six districts end May 26: Brownsville ISD, Donna ISD, Mission CISD, Sharyland ISD, United ISD, and Weslaco ISD. Four end May 27: La Joya ISD, Los Fresnos CISD, Mercedes ISD, and Roma ISD. Two end May 28: Edinburg CISD and Harlingen CISD. These 12 districts cluster tightly in a three-day window at the end of May.
June 2: The June outliers. McAllen ISD and PSJA ISD end June 2. Combined with their August 17 and August 24 first days respectively, these two districts have the longest school years in the RGV. A family moving from San Benito CISD to McAllen ISD gains 13 additional school days — nearly three full weeks of instruction, and three fewer weeks of summer before camp or travel begins.
Fall Break: Brownsville and Harlingen Only
Two RGV districts publish dedicated October fall breaks. No other RGV district in the current data has a comparable October closure.
Brownsville ISD lists a fall break from October 9 through October 13, 2026. That is a five-calendar-day window with three school weekdays. Harlingen CISD lists a fall break from October 12 through October 16, 2026 — five school weekdays, offset later than Brownsville's window.
These fall breaks create a multi-day childcare gap that does not exist for families in the other 14 RGV districts. A Brownsville family needs three school weekdays of October childcare or activity coverage. A Harlingen family needs five. A McAllen family on the same block has no dedicated October break to cover.
The fall break also changes the shape of the first semester. In a district without a dedicated multi-day fall break, the stretch from the first day of school to Thanksgiving is interrupted only by isolated student holidays. In Brownsville and Harlingen, the October break splits that stretch into two shorter segments. The practical effect on family planning is that October becomes a second mini-break to account for, alongside the standard November and December holiday windows.
Bad Weather Makeup Days: Three Districts, Three Unique Placements
Only three of 16 RGV districts publish explicit bad weather makeup days on their 2026-2027 calendars. Each uses a different placement strategy.
Edinburg CISD places one makeup day on November 23 — Thanksgiving week — and another on February 15. The November 23 placement is unique in the current statewide dataset. No other district reserves a makeup date inside Thanksgiving week, the most standardized break on the Texas school calendar. Activation of that date would convert the Monday of Thanksgiving week from a student holiday into a school day.
Los Fresnos CISD uses a single March 29 makeup date, following the spring Monday placement pattern seen on several Texas calendars.
United ISD places its makeup days on January 6 and 7 — the Thursday and Friday immediately after Winter Break. These are the only January makeup dates in the current statewide data. Activation would convert those post-break conditional dates into school days instead of converting a spring holiday. The cost lands on the January return-to-school transition. A spring-holiday activation would hit a different part of the calendar.
RGV District Comparison Table
The table covers the 16 RGV districts in the current 2026-2027 dataset. Click a district name for its full calendar page.
| District | First day | Spring Break | Last day | October break | Bad weather makeup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brownsville ISD | Aug 10 | Mar 15-19 | May 26 | Oct 9-13 | None listed |
| Donna ISD | Aug 10 | Mar 15-19 | May 26 | None listed | None listed |
| Rio Grande City CISD | Aug 10 | Mar 15-19 | May 21 | None listed | None listed |
| Roma ISD | Aug 10 | Mar 8-12 | May 27 | None listed | None listed |
| San Benito CISD | Aug 10 | Mar 15-19 | May 20 | None listed | None listed |
| Weslaco ISD | Aug 10 | Mar 15-19 | May 26 | None listed | None listed |
| Harlingen CISD | Aug 11 | Mar 15-19 | May 28 | Oct 12-16 | None listed |
| La Joya ISD | Aug 11 | Mar 15-19 | May 27 | None listed | None listed |
| Mission CISD | Aug 11 | Mar 15-19 | May 26 | None listed | None listed |
| Mercedes ISD | Aug 12 | Mar 15-19 | May 27 | None listed | None listed |
| United ISD | Aug 12 | Mar 8-12 | May 26 | None listed | Jan 6, Jan 7 |
| McAllen ISD | Aug 17 | Mar 15-19 | Jun 2 | None listed | None listed |
| Sharyland ISD | Aug 17 | Mar 15-19 | May 26 | None listed | None listed |
| Los Fresnos CISD | Aug 18 | Mar 15-19 | May 27 | None listed | Mar 29 |
| Edinburg CISD | Aug 24 | Mar 15-19 | May 28 | None listed | Nov 23, Feb 15 |
| Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD | Aug 24 | Mar 15-19 | Jun 2 | None listed | None listed |
None listed in the October break column means the district does not publish a dedicated multi-day October break. None listed in the bad weather makeup column means the district does not publish explicit makeup dates on its 2026-2027 calendar.
Use the RGV district pages to browse all district pages.
How the RGV Compares to Other Texas Metros
Four differences define the RGV's calendar profile relative to Houston, DFW, San Antonio, Austin, and El Paso.
Spring Break alignment. The RGV is the second-most-aligned metro after San Antonio — but on the opposite week. The SA area is nearly uniform on March 8-12. The RGV is nearly uniform on March 15-19. A family coordinating between SA and the RGV faces a one-week offset on every district pair except Roma-SA or United-SA.
First-day spread. The RGV's August 10-24 range is two full weeks but narrower than Houston or the statewide range. The RGV has no July starters like El Paso. It has no districts starting after August 24 like Comal ISD in the SA area. Every RGV district opens between August 10 and August 24.
June endings. McAllen ISD and PSJA ISD are two of the relatively few Texas districts whose calendars extend into June in the current data. The RGV has a higher concentration of June-end districts than the SA area, which has only one (Southwest ISD), or DFW, which has none among its major districts.
October fall breaks. Brownsville and Harlingen are the only RGV districts with dedicated October breaks. This is unusual. Texas fall breaks are more visible in parts of DFW and Central Texas than in the RGV. A family moving from a district with a full October break to an RGV district without one loses an entire October planning window.
The Five Dates That Create RGV Planning Differences
For a family comparing RGV districts, the calendar dates that actually differ come down to these five.
First day. The two-week spread from August 10 to August 24 translates directly to summer-length difference. A move from an August 10 district to an August 24 district adds 14 days of summer.
Spring Break. Only matters if Roma ISD or United ISD is one of the districts being compared. For any other pair of RGV districts, Spring Break week is the same. Roma and United are on March 8-12, one week before every other RGV district.
Last day. The 13-day spread from May 20 to June 2 determines summer camp start dates and early-summer travel. A San Benito CISD family can book camp starting May 21. A McAllen ISD or PSJA ISD family booking the same camp has a 12-day gap to cover.
Fall break. Brownsville ISD and Harlingen CISD are the only RGV districts with a dedicated multi-day October break. Other RGV districts may still have one or two October student holidays, but they do not create the same full-break childcare block.
Bad weather makeup dates. Edinburg CISD's November 23 makeup date is the only one in Texas that can affect Thanksgiving week. United ISD's January 6-7 dates are the only ones that sit in the first week after Winter Break. Los Fresnos CISD's March 29 date follows a spring Monday pattern.
Sources
- District-adopted 2026-2027 school calendars for the 16 Rio Grande Valley districts cited in this article, published on each district's official website and reflected in the Texas School Calendar dataset
- Texas Education Code Section 25.0811 — Fourth-Monday-in-August start date baseline