Revenues - Additional Information (Details) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Nov. 30, 2019	Nov. 30, 2018	Nov. 30, 2019	Nov. 30, 2018	May 31, 2019
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]
Returns liability	$ 42,400,000	$ 78,700,000	$ 42,400,000	$ 78,700,000	$ 34,500,000
Return asset	2,600,000	9,400,000	2,600,000	9,400,000	$ 1,600,000
Amount of revenue recognized included within deferred revenue balance	$ 46,900,000	$ 30,800,000	$ 74,000,000.0	$ 62,700,000

Contract with Customer, Liability, Portion of Recognized Revenue Included in Balance

No definition available.

Name:	schl_ContractwithCustomerLiabilityPortionofRecognizedRevenueIncludedinBalance
Namespace Prefix:	schl_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of liability for consideration received or receivable from customer which is not included in transaction price, when consideration is expected to be refunded to customer, classified as current.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 55
-Paragraph 27
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=108792157&loc=SL49130611-203046-203046

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ContractWithCustomerRefundLiabilityCurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of right to recover product from customer on settling refund liability, classified as current.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ContractWithCustomerRightToRecoverProductCurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RevenueFromContractWithCustomerAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration