With the San Diego Unified School District facing an estimated $120 million budget crisis, teacher layoff notices have been distributed across the district — possibly affecting a host of teachers at Barnard and Ocean Beach elementary schools and Correia Middle School. Officials said they fear the worst hit will be to Barnard’s teachers — who specialize in Mandarin Chinese within Barnard’s magnet language program — but are hopeful these educators will be spared. “I anticipate that the Mandarin-speaking teachers will have their preliminary layoff notices rescinded,” said SDUSD Board of Education member Scott Barnett in an e-mailed statement. Barnett’s office represents schools in the Peninsula area. He added that he opposed the current round of layoffs. Peninsula schools have some of the largest number of layoff projections on the list of hardest-hit schools. Seven of the 17 total staff were given layoff notices at Barnard Elementary last week, representing about 41 percent of certificated staff — mostly teachers — at the site. About 14 layoff notices were handed out at Correia Elementary School in recent weeks and six at Ocean Beach Elementary. Barnard Principal Edward Park said that if the school district lets staff go according to seniority, Barnard’s newest teachers — those brought on specifically to teach Mandarin in the growing language immersion program — would be most affected. That strategy would “ultimately destroy” one of the most progressive education programs in the city, Park said. “[The language program] requires a highly-needed specialty skill set for a specialized school like ours. We want to sustain and continue to offer programs so that our kids can be ahead in the 21st century,” Park said. Impending statewide ballot measures could help tomorrow’s students. California voters will be asked to vote on a five-year extension on a set of state taxes and fees set to expire this year. Along with other tax proposals, the measure would generate about $8.9 billion, according to a March report released by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. “Needs for education and other public services have grown during the recession, while the levels of these services have declined,” the report states. “If the voters do not approve the tax extensions, the additional spending reductions needed to balance the budget could severely harm critical state and local government services and result in even deeper cuts to higher education.” As the state prepares for a tough road ahead, the effects of past budget decisions and the ongoing fiscal crises deepens the worry for local schools. Administrators are now hoping that California residents will vote yes on tax-related proposals to help education. “We’ve got so many schools out there that are specialized and we are hoping we will have that needed support of the public,” Park said. San Diego Unified must finalize and submit a balanced budget to the San Diego County Office of Education by June 30.