Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero laid off dozens of employees in the central office to save the district roughly $5 million annually.

The 38 eliminated positions will be effective July 1, according to a memo sent to staff on Friday.

“We are facing great uncertainty compounded by significant concerns for our future funding from both the state and national levels,” Marrero wrote. “This all comes on top of a period of declining birth rates and lower enrollment across our city and the nation.

“These challenges require us to make difficult decisions to ensure our district’s long-term stability and success.”

Employees were notified before the memo was sent out Friday.

Central office staff includes anyone not assigned to a school. The layoffs represent fewer than 2% of these employees.

In his Memo, Marrero also announced some restructuring, among them General Counsel Aaron Thompson assumed responsibility for the employee relations investigative, student discipline and juvenile court liaisons teams.

Eliminated employees are expected to receive a severance package from 15 to 45 days or more, based on years of service.

Central office staff are also able to apply for district vacancies.

The belt-tightening comes in the wake of the district announcing last fall it’s closing seven schools and restructuring three others. The schools closing at the end of the year are Columbian Elementary, Castro Elementary, Schmitt Elementary, International Academy of Denver at Harrington, Palmer Elementary, West Middle School and Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design.

The closures are expected to produce a net savings of $6.6 million.

DPS has been grappling with declining enrollment since at least 2019. Marrero first recommended closing 10 schools in the fall of 2022, which he scuttled following the public backlash.

Two years ago, the board also closed three others campuses.

In Colorado, dollars follow students. Fewer students means less funding.

Declining enrollment is a trend not an isolated in Denver.

Birth rates nationally have declined since 2008. But the metro Denver region has been largely spared because of domestic migration to the state and an influx in immigrant students. Over the past two years, Denver saw more than 40,000 immigrants, many with young children, come to Denver which buoyed — at least temporarily — student enrollment. City officials estimate about half have stayed, with the others accepting city-provided bus and airplane tickets elsewhere.

Skyrocketing home costs and gentrification in Denver have also been identified as the forces driving enrollment declines.

In December, a group of DPS parents filed a lawsuit against the school district to halt the closures at the end of the academic year. Filed on behalf of Mamas de DPS LLC — which translates to “Moms of DPS” — he the lawsuit makes a number of claims, including an allegation that the district failed to follow its policies when the board unanimously voted to close the schools in November.

“DPS’ closure recommendation is necessarily arbitrary because it is founded upon inadequate causal research and conclusions,” according to the lawsuit.

The district has asked for, and the judge granted, more time to file an answer to that complaint.