"Because schools are funded on a per-pupil basis, the loss of 3,000 of the district’s 200,000 students could amount to a $28 million funding decrease."

"The district... has... hired Caissa K12 to help it recruit back families tempted by other options.... In mid-May, Caissa’s team of paid canvassers fanned out across Orange County, looking for parents. Caroline Christian, a 25-year-old with a degree in marketing, set up a table at a Boys and Girls Club after-school program. Destiny Arnold, a former police officer, looked for garden apartments with children’s bikes parked out front. The team also visited a homeless shelter and a church preschool.... Caissa staff members, who can earn performance bonuses, might contact a parent 10, 20, even 30 times to prompt them to complete school-enrollment paperwork.... If a child whose parent has been in touch with Caissa shows up for public school in the fall, Caissa will be paid. In Orange County, the company will earn $935 for each former student the firm attracts back to the district, about 10 percent of state and local per-pupil funding for that child...."

From "Public Schools Try to Sell Themselves as More Students Use Vouchers/A decline in the number of children and rise in the number of choices has created a crisis for public schools. Some are trying new strategies to recruit students" (NYT).

"At the Boys and Girls Club in Orlando, one mother who asked that her name not be included, quickly rejected the suggestion that her daughter should attend her zoned school in a low-income neighborhood. The mother believed the school was rife with behavioral problems. Caissa also conducts parent surveys for districts, which have shown that perceptions of safety and academic quality drive school-choice decisions. 'Our job is to adjust the perception.... There’s always some positive stuff in every school.'"