Photo courtesy of The Argus Foundation.

Five years ago, The Argus Foundation launched the Sarasota Schools Data Dig social media campaign with a simple goal: keep our school district honest about its own numbers, and pull the public conversation around school board races back toward academic achievement instead of the social issues that too often dominate the debate.

Every summer since, when the Florida Department of Education releases its school and district grades, we have posted one data point a day on social media, comparing Sarasota County Schools to other districts across the state and comparing our own schools against each other.

This year marked our fifth campaign. We ran it for 38 days, from July 1st through August 10th, skipping only July 3rd through 5th, and did it entirely organically, with no paid promotion. It reached nearly 300,000 views.

The 2025-26 data gave us plenty to work with. Sarasota County Schools earned an A again this year, scoring 72 percent of available points, good for a spot in the top 10 among Florida's 67 districts and well above the statewide average of roughly 65 percent. That extends a run of A grades stretching back to 2002.

Neighboring Manatee County earned a B at 64 percent this year, and larger peer districts like Hillsborough and Charlotte earned A's as well, but with lower point totals than Sarasota's. Only Pinellas came close among nearby counties, and even there Sarasota's 94 percent graduation rate held the edge.

The district number is only half the story, and it is the half that is easiest to take for granted. Individual school results this year were more mixed.

Laurel Nokomis and Sarasota Suncoast Academy each posted their fourth consecutive A, one a traditional public school and the other a charter, proof that the grade is not about school type but about what happens inside the building.

Island Village Montessori and Sarasota Academy of the Arts both climbed to A's this year after a run of B's and C's, a real improvement worth noting. College Preparatory Academy at Wellen Park, still new, backed up last year's A with another one.

Imagine School at Palmer Ranch posted a C, its third in the last four years, the one school in this group that has not reached an A at any point.

That is the real value of this campaign. A single district letter grade can hide a lot, including a school that needs attention. Our members do not run their companies off one number, and our community should not judge its schools that way either. The Data Dig exists to put the specifics in front of the public, so that praise for what is working and pressure on what is not both land where they belong.

Christine Robinson is the Chief Executive Officer of The Argus Foundation.

Photo courtesy of The Argus Foundation.