SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) — The Sacramento City Unified School District announced Thursday that the 2021-22 academic year will not be extended, ending as scheduled on June 16. 

In a press release, the district said no additional instructional days will be added to the school year and the 2022-23 academic year will begin as scheduled on Sept. 1. 

“We had hoped to be able to provide additional instructional time for students this school year to recover the learning time lost due to the recent strike,” the district said in the release. “Unfortunately, we were not able to reach a student-centered agreement with the Sacramento City Teachers’ Association (SCTA) to extend this school year without the necessary assurances to appropriately staff our schools, especially given the varying needs of our diverse student population.” 

According to the district, it focused on making up learning time for students who lost eight days of instruction during the SCTA strike. The district said it’s building a plan to add 16 days of instruction over a two-year period. 

Families will get advanced notice of how future academic calendars will be adjusted for planning purposes, the district said. 

The district said adding days and minutes to future calendars is a way to recover most of a state fine due to the missed time of instruction. 

The district added that it will submit and seek a waiver from the State Board of Education to reduce the penalty. 

“Although there are added costs associated with this plan, including operations and staff salaries, the district believes those expenses are more than justified by the additional learning opportunity for our students,” the district said. 

Originally, SCUSD presented a proposal to the SCTA that included extending the school year by six days, extending Thursday reduced schedules one hour for six consecutive weeks and requiring teachers to provide instruction in order to recover their salary forfeited during the strike.