The Kent School District will eliminate 127 full-time staff positions and nine administrators for the 2018-19 school district as it continues to close a budget gap.

School district leaders met with principals to discuss the reductions in force Monday after Kent schools received their staffing allocations for the 2018-19 school year last Friday.

The latest reductions represent approximately 7.9 percent of staffing in KSD, the district announced in a news release Tuesday afternoon.

The school-based administrator changes will impact eight of Kent’s 42 schools and represent a total net annual savings of nearly $750,000, the district said. On Feb. 28, the school district’s board of directors approved the reduction of nine school-based administrative positions at the end of this school year.

The school district continues to move forward with district-wide reorganization and restructuring. The reductions and reassignments were not issues of personnel performance, the district said, but part of a budget recovery plan.

“To make these tough decisions, we looked at the entire KSD system,” Superintendent Calvin Watts said in the release.. “When considering school-based administrators and staff, we looked closely at several factors at the school level, including enrollment, program needs, student needs, and the unique needs of each school community.”

Watts said the only way to decrease workforce costs in a sustainable form is to reduce the number of full-time jobs. To control compensation costs, all reductions, reassignments and compensation controls have been made in an effort to make KSD financially solvent, the district said.

Reductions in force at the district began in February at the central administration office, when 45 administration center positions were eliminated – a 16 percent reduction – for the 2018-19 school year, representing a net savings of approximately $4 million. In total, the combined efforts represent a net savings of approximately $18 million and set the school district on the trajectory not only to end August 2018 with a positive year-end fund balance, but also to set KSD on a path for restored fiscal health for years to come, the district said.

Entering the 2017-18 school year as part of the KSD budget recovery plan, the district made $8 million worth of planned budget reductions and budgeting efficiencies.

Recently, KSD leadership shared with staff the new organizational structure, KSD 2.0, which goes into effect July 1.

“Beyond the fiscal savings of having fewer chief officers in the organization, this new structure ensures that, for each goal in our strategic plan, the objectives, implementation strategies, and continuous evaluation of key indicators that measure our performance are being closely managed and monitored, and have strong central leadership,” Watts said. “I am confident that, through collaboration, open and transparent two-way communication, and our shared commitment to successfully preparing all students for their futures, together we will be successful in the implementation of KSD 2.0.”