School days.
Sorted.

Columbia County and Richmond County follow an August-to-May schedule. Aiken County uses a modified year-round calendar and starts in July. All dates here come from each district’s official 2026–27 PDF; the planner is a family-focused transcription, and the original documents include exams, report cards and other details.

Start with your address, then the calendar. A town name or ZIP code does not establish school assignment. A magnet or charter school may have its own admissions process, and private schools set their own schedules. Our Augusta schools explainer covers zoning, magnets and choice.

Other CSRA districts are outside this three-district calendar collection. For Edgefield, Thomson, Waynesboro and other towns, start with the district linked in the town guide. Compare the wider area in where to live in the CSRA.

The official calendar is reproduced below in its original colors so its legend remains readable. Expand the preview or open the PDF for the complete document. Student schedule changes also appear in the planner above.

Before choosing a home: use Columbia County’s school and bus address lookup, then confirm the assignment with the district. Read the Grovetown neighborhood guide if you are comparing west-side addresses; feeder patterns and mailing names are not guarantees.

Evans, Martinez, Grovetown, Harlem and Appling area addresses. Confirm the exact parcel with the district.

First student day

Aug 4, 2026

Last student day

May 26, 2027

After winter break

Jan 6, 2027

Early dismissal times vary by school. A teacher workday is a student day off.

Expand calendar preview Download original PDFOfficial district PDF

The download is an unchanged copy of the district’s published PDF. Check district updates for revisions. School-specific notices and weather changes take precedence over this snapshot.

Richmond’s first day depends on school type: August 5 for elementary; August 6 for K–8, magnet, middle and high schools. Follow your individual school’s instructions if a program has a separate orientation or reporting schedule.

PowerUp is a learning day. October 8, 2026 and February 11, 2027 are scheduled asynchronous learning days, not holidays. Children still have schoolwork; families may need supervision at home. Early-release times should be confirmed with the school.

On-post public schools follow Richmond County’s system calendar. See the Fort Gordon family guide for the wider move and the Augusta schools guide for magnets and school choice.

Augusta–Richmond County, Hephzibah, Blythe and on-post public schools at Fort Gordon.

First student day

Aug 5 or 6, 2026

Last student day

May 26, 2027

After winter break

Jan 7, 2027

Elementary starts Aug 5. K–8, magnet, middle and high schools start Aug 6. PowerUp days are school days completed remotely.

Expand calendar preview Download original PDFOfficial district PDF

The download is an unchanged copy of the district’s published PDF. Check district updates for revisions. School-specific notices and weather changes take precedence over this snapshot.

Aiken’s July 20, 2026 start comes before the Georgia districts. Its longer fall and spring breaks include intersession opportunities for intervention and enrichment. Ask the school whether your child will participate before treating the entire break as available for travel.

Weather make-up dates matter. The published calendar reserves November 23 and 24, February 15 and May 28 as potential make-up days. If May 28 becomes a student day, the teacher workday moves to June 1. District announcements determine whether those dates are used; this page does not claim they have been activated.

For life on the South Carolina side, compare Aiken and North Augusta. Confirm the district before using this calendar for an Edgefield County address or a charter school.

Aiken and Aiken County portions of North Augusta. Edgefield County addresses and charter schools need their own calendars.

First student day

Jul 20, 2026

Last student day

May 27, 2027

After winter break

Jan 5, 2027

Modified year-round calendar. Intersessions offer intervention and enrichment during breaks; ask your school about participation. Make-up days can change.

Expand calendar preview Download original PDFOfficial district PDF

The download is an unchanged copy of the district’s published PDF. Check district updates for revisions. School-specific notices and weather changes take precedence over this snapshot.

Spring break overlaps, but the start and return dates differ. The chart shows the shared weekdays and the extra time on either side.

Fall and winter deserve a second look

These are the dates printed in each calendar, not promises that weather will leave them untouched. For travel, check both the last student day before a break and the first day back. If adults work in another district, check the staff calendar too.

Use the state’s own measures to compare schools, then look at the school’s programs, student support, admissions rules and fit for your child. A score does not assign your school or guarantee admission.

Georgia: GaDOE publishes CCRPI components such as content mastery, progress, closing gaps, readiness and high-school graduation. The state’s Georgia School Grades data also includes a GOSA single score derived from those components. The finder below reproduces that published 2025 single score and the grade-band components. It does not invent an official statewide ordinal ranking.

South Carolina: the official report cards use overall rating categories: Excellent, Good, Average, Below Average and Unsatisfactory. The Aiken finder reproduces all 41 grade-band entries for 40 schools in the state’s 2026 reporting file, with a direct state report link for each. Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle/High has two grade-band reports. Five entries received Excellent.

Read the year and the measure. Georgia’s 2025 scores and South Carolina’s 2026 categories come from different accountability systems. Do not combine them into one cross-state league table. A graduation component score is not necessarily the four-year graduation percentage, and a single score of 90 is not a “90% pass rate.”

For methods and full results, use GaDOE’s CCRPI portal, the state’s single-score calculation guide, Georgia School Grades, and South Carolina School Report Cards. The school list is a dated record; confirm that a school is operating, serving the relevant grades and accepting applications now.

Use the planner for student days off, early dismissal, remote learning, intersessions and first/last-day milestones. Use the original PDF for the complete calendar. Teacher preplanning, exams, routine weekends, progress reports and report-card distribution are not all repeated in the planner.

The calendar download is an unchanged district PDF. The .ics download is a separate CSRA Brief planning file, transcribed from it. It covers the full school year and does not automatically receive changes. If you import a new copy later, remove the old events first to avoid duplicates.

Check the school’s own notices. Bell times, bus assignments, conferences, special programs and weather decisions may add details or change the printed schedule. Aiken’s possible make-up days and intersessions need particular attention. Richmond may use asynchronous learning for weather closures. Do not assume that “not in the building” means “no schoolwork.”

Keep the move connected

• Use the Augusta schools explainer to confirm the address and understand admissions.
• Compare the commute in getting around the CSRA, including pickup time and the morning school run.
• Before a lease, use the renting guide to connect the address, school zone and household costs.
• Military families can pair the Fort Gordon guide with the TRICARE dental guide to set up the rest of the family routine.
• Work through the newcomer checklist for the paperwork beyond school enrollment.

Official family starting points

Calendar snapshot checked October 25, 2026. Each district section links to its original official PDF and provides an unchanged downloadable copy. The preview images are rendered from those documents, not recreated calendars. If a district replaces a file, its newest calendar and direct notices are authoritative.

Georgia results: official Georgia School Grades data ZIP, schoolgrades_ccrpi_data.csv, 2025 records for Columbia County (system 636) and Richmond County (system 721). The downloadable local CSV retains the source columns and includes the two district rows as well as 79 school rows. The finder displays school rows only. Scores are reproduced directly; missing values stay missing. The ZIP filename identifies its August 11, 2026 update; the results are still the 2025 reporting year.

Aiken results: the official 2025–26 researcher workbook, REPORT_CARD_RATINGS sheet, ReportCardYear = 2026, Aiken district entries. The local CSV preserves the original columns for 41 grade-band entries across 40 schools. The finder reproduces RATE_OVERALL without recalculating it. The five Excellent entries also match the district’s October 12, 2026 state report-card release. “Excellent” is an overall state category. The district release also mentions a third-party publication’s ranking; that separate ranking is not presented here as an official state result.

The CSRA Brief is an independent local publication. This page covers the three named districts, not every public, charter or private school in the region. To suggest a correction, include the official district or state source when contacting The CSRA Brief.