CCUSD Schools Back in Session for 2025-26 year

The 2025-26 school year has begun for students in Culver City.

Instruction at Culver City Unified School District for the 2025-26 academic year started yesterday — August 20 — and ends on June 12, 2026, one day earlier than in the 2024-25 school year. While the dates on which the school year starts and ends are slightly different, both this and last school year began on the second Wednesday of August and end on the second Friday in June.

There will be the same number of instructional days — 180 over the school year — as there was in 2024-2025. CCUSD starts later and ends later than many of the school districts in the area, including the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).

One change made to this year's calendar was the placement of one of the year's Teacher Work Days. Students do not report to classes on these days, but teachers report to work and use the time to grade, create lesson plans, and perform other administrative duties.

The general placement of these days has not changed, but the days on which they will occur have. The first two were held on Monday and Tuesday — the two days before the first day of instruction — and the final one is scheduled for the first Friday of March. The third Teacher Work Day this year will be on the first Monday of November, as opposed to the first Friday of the month when it was held last school year.

CCUSD starts later than many nearby school districts, with BHUSD starting 8 days before Culver City and Los Angeles Unified School District beginning on August 14 — six days before CCUSD. On the other hand, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) starts an ends a day after CCUSD, with today being SMMUSD's first day this year.

As a result, the end dates for each District are also different, with CCUSD's end date and graduation being held on on June 12, 2026.

Each District shares most of the federal holidays recognized by businesses nationally, but the length of some recesses is different from District to District. The federal holidays whose days off outside of larger breaks are shared by each District include:  

• Labor Day: September 1, 2025
• Veterans Day: November 11, 2025
• MLK Day: January 19, 2026
• Presidents' Day: February 16, 2026
• Memorial Day: May 25, 2026
• Juneteenth: June 19, 2026

CCUSD will also take February 9, 2026, off for Lincoln Day, a day on which classes will be in session for the three other school districts.

For Thanksgiving, CCUSD students are given a longer break than most in the area. While SMMUSD and BHUSD each give the days surrounding Thanksgiving, both CCUSD and LAUSD take the entire week of Thanksgiving off, from November 24 to 28.

Winter Breaks generally align across Districts to accommodate the Christmas and New Year holidays, but LAUSD is the outlier for the time taken off at the end of 2025 and the start of 2026. While the other three Districts will have two weeks off from December 22, 2025, to January 2, 2026, LAUSD's calendar extends that break by another week to January 9.

Spring Break is where the most significant differences between time off lie. CCUSD will have a two-week Spring Recess from March 23 to April 3, 2026. This break occurs one week earlier than SMMUSD's two-week Spring Break and lasts a week longer than BHUSD and LASUSD, which run from March 30 to April 3.

Other School Districts also have their own local holidays where school is not in session. Each of the other has days off beyond the major scheduled breaks and holidays under various names like "unassigned days" or "pupil-free days."

When excluding the days before the school year officially begins, Culver City's two days are among the lowest in the area. SMMUSD has four officially listed breaks, but two of them fall during the District's Spring Break. BHUSD and LAUSD have three breaks that are separated from other recesses.

To view CCUSD's complete District Calendar for the 2025-26 school year, click here.