Hi Feenstra,
I recommend you remove licenses from users firstly before you delete them. Then you can assign the licenses to other new users.Remove a license from a user
http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-enterprises/gg570315.aspx#BKMK_RemoveALicense
Note: When you remove a license, all data associated with that service for that user is deleted and cannot be recovered (with the exception of documents that they saved on SharePoint Online).
Thanks,
Aaron Yuan