Quick Take
Soquel Union Elementary School District students are first among the county's public school students to start the 2026-27 school year.
Thousands of Santa Cruz County students are soaking up their last days of summer vacation as they prepare for their first day of school this week, while several other area school districts start next week.
Soquel Union Elementary School District classes start Wednesday, and Santa Cruz City Schools, San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District, Scotts Valley Unified School District and Live Oak School District start the school year on Thursday.
Next Wednesday, Pajaro Valley Unified School District, Happy Valley Elementary, Pacific Elementary and Mountain Elementary have their first day of school, while Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District starts next Thursday, Aug. 13.
Students, staff and teachers will return to school with several new laws in place, new buildings or construction at some schools and new benefits for teachers.
Starting this past month, school districts across the state were required to have policies in place that limit the use of cellphones during the school day. Many local school districts had already implemented policies this past school year, as Lookout previously reported.
Also by July 1, schools that have more than one bathroom for male students and female students were required to also have one gender-neutral bathroom on their campuses.
In addition to those newly implemented laws, teachers this year for the first time will be eligible for paid pregnancy leave starting Jan. 1, 2027. The new benefit includes 14 weeks of paid pregnancy disability leave.
As for school upgrades, several districts reported improvements to their campuses.
San Lorenzo Valley Unified Superintendent Chris Schiermeyer told Lookout that all of that district’s schools have new and operational solar installations, Boulder Creek Elementary was fully repainted, and SLVUSD Charter got a science room update. SLV Middle was repainted as well and has some work finishing up on fencing projects.
Santa Cruz City Schools spokesperson Sam Rolens told Lookout that Branciforte Middle School is opening a new two-story classroom building with three science classrooms, four general-use classrooms, a wood shop and graphic design studio after tearing down a set of old buildings. Rolens said the district is also moving forward on building its workforce housing after breaking ground this spring. The housing project, which will house 100 district staff and teachers, is located on the Westside and has an expected opening date of 2028.
At Pacific Elementary, Superintendent Eric Gross said the single-school district had 11 projects going on this summer, including a brand-new play structure and a new entrance to the school.
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