PORTSMOUTH — A total of 32 nonrenewal notices will go out to teachers who may — or may not — be laid off in the fall.

The School Committee approved the letters with “angst” on Tuesday night, according to E. Richard Carpender, chairman of the committee’s finance subcommittee.

If districts do not send teachers notices by March 1, state law obligates them to keep the teachers on the payroll for the next academic year.

“We have angst every year that we have to go through that March 1 deadline,” Carpender said.

“I understand that employees want to know,” he said.

“But because we don’t have the budget done” by March 1 for the following fiscal year, “it forces us into a position where we have to send notices to more people than we lay off,” he explained.

Carpender said he is “concerned about the ongoing process.”

“It’s never an easy task for the School Committee,” he said. “We hope that the budget works out and all the people will be with us next year.”

— Gina Macris