Sac City Unified will not extend 2022-23 school year
SACRAMENTO — In a letter sent to parents Friday, Sacramento City Unified School District announced it will not add any days to the upcoming academic year to recover lost learning time from the 2021-22 teacher strike — despite facing $47 million in penalties over the missed days.
A specific number of instructional days and minutes are required by the state. Due to the strike, students require an additional 16 days, according to the district.
Previously, the district said it planned to request a waiver from the California State Board of Education.
"SCUSD will continue to work with labor partners as the waiver request is developed. If our district is successful in getting a waiver from the California State Board of Education, adding sixteen additional days of learning time will also reduce the financial penalties our district faces as a result of not meeting the required instructional days and minutes this year," they said in a statement last spring.
"Investing in more learning time that we owe our students is a much better use of precious school dollars than forfeiting the funds to pay a penalty."
In May, the Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) announced that it had taken legal action against the district over its failure to bargain over make-up days for the 2021-22 school year related to the eight-day strike.
The teachers union said it had agreed to the district's framework to extend last school year through June 24 to make up the lost days, but the district "rejected SCTA's multiple proposals to ensure that schools are appropriately staffed during those extended days."
But SCTA filed a charge with the California Public Employment Relations Board alleging SCUSD "bargained unlawfully by adding new, regressive proposals late in the process with the purpose of frustrating the bargaining process; in refusing to provide information related to the negotiations; and by throwing up fictitious obstacles to negotiation; and refusing to clarify what those obstacles are and/or how they could be addressed."
The teachers union said it raised the need to address make-up days on April 3, when they negotiated with SCUSD to settle and end the eight-day strike. At that time, the district said it remained committed to reaching an agreement to recover the lost time for students.