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District hears pitch from Casia K12 for performance‑based student‑recruitment program
Summary
Adrian Bond of Casia K12 told the Leon County School Board the firm can recruit students for traditional public schools on a performance basis—no upfront district payments—using door‑to‑door, digital and phone outreach; board members pressed the company on data sources, canvassing methods and oversight before asking staff to return with a proposed agreement.
Adrian Bond, president of Casia K12, presented a performance‑based student‑recruitment offer to the Leon County School Board on May 11, saying the firm will begin outreach at no upfront cost and that the district pays only for students who register, show up for school and remain through the October full‑time equivalency (FTE) count.
Bond described Casia K12 as a communications and grassroots‑campaign firm that now works in 27 states and focuses on recruiting families for traditional public schools. “We work on a performance based contract, with no money upfront to the district,” Bond said, explaining the district would only pay for students who meet the October FTE threshold. He said Casia uses phone calls, text, digital ads, direct mail and door‑to‑door canvassing, and that about 61% of successful contacts happen evenings and weekends.
Board members asked detailed questions about Casia’s data and methods. Board Member Smith asked whether Casia returns raw feedback to the district; Bond replied, “Yes. All of the raw data, the good, the bad, the ugly, we’re going to get back to you,” and said that withdrawal lists plus purchased lists of area school‑age families allow the firm to “cast a wide net.”
Several members pressed on canvassing and hiring. Bond confirmed the firm conducts physical, door‑to‑door canvassing when feasible and said local people are often hired for the on‑the‑ground effort. “If we were to start in January, we would definitely have the ability to go out and engage with people that are from the area,” he said. Board members sought assurances about message control; Bond said all phone scripts, emails, texts and mailers are approved by the district before use, and that project leads are trained to escalate specialized questions to district staff.
Bond said the ideal campaign runs nine to ten months and that Casia often begins pre‑campaign work in October–November to launch on January 1 for the next school year. He cited examples of prior work, including recruiting more than 1,900 students for another Florida district and a $1.5 million revenue impact in a district where 130 students were added after a late start.
Superintendent and board members asked staff to continue conversations with Casia and return a draft agreement later in May; no contract vote was taken. The superintendent said staff would work with Bond over the coming weeks to prepare a proposal for board consideration.
