View Comments LAS CRUCES - Both Gadsden Independent School District and Hatch Valley Public Schools decided to extend their academic calendar for the 2021-22 academic year. These extensions follow a state bill that encouraged districts and charter schools to extend their calendars to help supplement potential learning loss due to school closures and remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. Senate Bill 40 was signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on April 8. The bill makes districts eligible for additional program units and funds if it extends learning time to the minimum requirements of the bill.