Ask any parent what makes a great school year, and the answer, more often than not, comes down to one thing: a teacher who is present, patient, and engaged. What we don't always ask is what it takes for that teacher to arrive each morning ready to give that kind of presence, day after day.

That question is at the heart of a new episode of Education Conversations, the Foundation's podcast, releasing this month. In "How Humans Show Up in the Classroom," I sit down with sisters Dr. Stacie Herrera and Sandi Herrera, co-founders of HumanizEDU. Stacie is a licensed school psychologist, and Sandi is a culture-transformation coach. Both have spent their careers working with schools and leaders, and they share an important belief: we cannot separate student well-being from educator well-being. When adults in a classroom are stressed, depleted, or dysregulated, students feel it, often before they can name what they are sensing.

And the research backs that up. RAND's 2026 national survey of public school teachers found that 55% reported frequent job-related stress, compared with 34% of similar working adults. A systematic review of 14 studies and more than 50,000 students found evidence linking teacher burnout with poorer academic performance and lower-quality student motivation. One study found higher cortisol levels, a biological marker of stress, among students whose teachers reported greater burnout. Stress doesn't stay contained in the adult carrying it. It can move through the room.

Think about what we ask of a teacher in a single school day: teach the lesson, manage the classroom, notice the student who has gone quiet, respond to the one acting out, communicate with families, and remain patient and present through it all. That emotional load is real. We understand this in other helping professions. Hospitals build in shift changes and debriefing because people who absorb the stress and crisis of others need ways to recover. Educators do, too. Caring deeply for other people's children is meaningful work, but it can take a toll, even on those who love what they do.

What struck me most in our conversation was Sandi's reminder that burnout is not something an individual teacher can simply self-care their way out of. Individual wellness practices matter, but they cannot compensate for a workplace culture that continually depletes people. Lasting change requires attention to trust, autonomy, leadership, and the conditions in which educators do their jobs. If we want teachers to bring their best to students, we have to create environments where they can do their best work sustainably.

That's why the Foundation is proud to introduce School Staff Well-Being Grants this school year, in partnership with Sarasota County Schools. Principals at ten schools will receive funds to invest in school-based strategies that strengthen staff culture, morale, and retention. Resource options included HumanizEDU's "From Burnout to Bliss" program and workshops from Resilient Retreat focused on compassion fatigue, stress regulation, and self-care.

The Foundation does not have all the answers, nor should we. Our role is to listen to educators, identify promising approaches, bring the right partners together, and put resources behind ideas that can make a difference. Here, that means helping schools support the adults who support our students every day.

This is not only a school-level issue. It is a community one. Our public schools, and the educators inside them, are among Sarasota County's most valuable assets. When we invest in the well-being of the adults who shape our children's days, we strengthen the conditions for students to learn, grow, and thrive.

We talk often about what students need to thrive. We should ask the same question about the adults standing in front of them every day. Supporting educators isn't separate from supporting students. It's part of the same work. I hope you'll listen to this month's episode of Education Conversations and, more importantly, ask an educator in your life what helps them show up at their best. Their answers are worth hearing.

Jennifer Vigne is President and CEO of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County and host of the podcast Education Conversations. 

PhoPictured: 2026 Sarasota County Teacher of the Year Andy Harshman working with students in his classroom. Teachers support their students in many ways that go beyond academics. Provided photo.

I grew up on a farm, a place where the land held history, shaped our daily lives and connected one generation to the next. That early relationship with the outdoors has stayed with me. As someone who loves endurance sports, I spend hours upon hours training on trails and in parks—places that restore me, challenge me and remind me how much our well-being is connected to that of the natural world.

As our area’s population continues to grow, that connection can sometimes feel precarious. In fact, much of the open space we treasure today may no longer exist if we delay decisions about land conservation.

Thankfully, voters in Sarasota and Manatee counties have an opportunity to act. In Sarasota County, voters are being asked to continue to support a pair of ballot measures that will maintain the county’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program and Neighborhood Parkland Acquisition Program, while in Manatee County, a referendum on the ballot would extend the county’s Environmental Lands Program.

Since 1999, Sarasota’s Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program has protected more than 42,000 acres across 101 properties through land purchases and conservation easements. Manatee’s Environmental Lands Program was created in 2020 and has allowed the county to acquire more than 300 acres of conservation land, establish and expand nature preserves, grow a county park and partner with the state to protect land through conservation easements.

These lands are critical infrastructure. Forests and wetlands hold and absorb water. Keeping them undeveloped reduces runoff, improves water quality and provides natural floodwater storage. Conserved land can lessen the pressure placed on neighborhoods, roads and drainage systems during severe weather, making our region more resilient for the long term.

Land conservation can also give ranchers and farming families another option when they face pressure from nearby development. Many families want to preserve land they have cared for across generations, but the financial realities of holding onto valuable property can make that difficult. Conservation easements allow willing landowners to retain ownership while protecting the land from future development. This can preserve working lands, family legacies and critical connections between larger conservation areas, while helping our region make more intentional decisions about where and how we grow.

Those connections matter. Wildlife does not recognize property lines or county boundaries. Protecting strategically located parcels helps build corridors through which native species can move, feed and reproduce. Our local efforts can become part of something much larger, including the statewide effort to create the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Philanthropy, too, has an important role to play in conservation and resilience. Donors, foundations and nonprofit organizations can identify opportunities, leverage public funding and bring partners together. We can support education, restoration, stewardship and innovation.

Some decisions can be revisited later. This is not one of them. We have a rare opportunity to come together as a community to care for and protect local land and natural resources. Let’s seize it.

We inherited a community shaped by people who had the foresight to save places before many of us knew we would need them. Now it is our turn to consider what we want to leave for those who come after us. What we choose to save now, we get to keep forever.

Jessica Muroff is the president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. 

Pictured: Deer Prairie Creek Preserve, which was purchased between 2000 and 2004 through a partnership between Sarasota County's Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Photo courtesy of Sara

Over the past month, the Selby Foundation visited 29 nonprofit organizations in our region to learn about their essential work. As long as I have worked in this sector, I still find this type of connection profoundly meaningful.

We ask a lot of questions as part of our capital grant process. No matter what we think we know, the insights shared with us deepen our appreciation for the leadership and program teams that power nonprofits—and the difference their work makes.

During our September site visits, we talked with people who provide a safe and supportive environment for boys who have experienced more than 14 foster home placements. We learned about the economic impact of an enduring theatre that creates jobs and sends patrons to local restaurants, shops, and hotels. We visited food distribution centers reaching rural areas where more people than ever come regularly—or depend on friends and neighbors to deliver food from the center for reasons most of us cannot fathom. We learned about essential resources a nonprofit provides to patients facing illnesses that are likely impacting someone you know.

Some nonprofits are also engaging in crucial advocacy, helping representatives understand how legislation and proposals are likely to affect our community. They speak on behalf of the vulnerable people they serve. Sometimes those people are us. 

At the Selby Foundation, what we want people to know about our region’s nonprofits is simple: They are necessary. They are formidable employers. They innovate in ways other sectors emulate. They enrich what is offered in public schools, make opportunities accessible to people who would otherwise not have them, and bring people together to own solutions collectively. 

Philanthropy alone will never be enough to power their work. While the nonprofit sector needs businesses and government to work well, businesses and government also need nonprofits to thrive.

Anyone leading a charitable organization will tell you the work is rewarding but tough. Those outside the sector may not fully appreciate the knowledge, resources, experience, and time required to do it successfully.

I often remind myself that most people do not live in the world of philanthropy or nonprofits. Because of this, they are not immersed in the value of the sector or realize that our communities would not function the same without them. Most of us do not recognize we are being touched by a nonprofit when we sit in the audience of a local performing arts organization, are admitted to a hospital, or see older parents benefit from an enriching program while providing a break for caregivers.

Not everyone has the opportunity or interest to experience the in-depth interactions with nonprofits that the Selby Foundation does. But even small intersections with our nonprofit community can change the way you think about the world. As you find refuge, assistance, inspiration, or joy in an experience, you may realize that a nonprofit organization made it possible.

Human advancement and care happen every day because of good people and those who invest in progress together. Nonprofits are often the nexus. This season is a great time to advocate for them when and where we can, and there are significant opportunities at our fingertips. 

Along the roads in our region, we discover organizations that deserve the Selby Foundation’s capital funding as well as open spaces to share their stories of impact with the broader community. If you look out the window, you will notice just how much of our society’s strength is built by the social sector and its people.

Susie Bowie is the President and CEO of The William G. and Marie Selby Foundation.

Someone asked me why an arts organization is hosting an event about property taxes. Fair question. Here’s my answer: arts issues are community issues, and community issues are arts issues. You can’t pull those two things apart in a county like ours.

On November 3, Florida voters will decide on Amendment 3, a proposed change to how the state taxes property. It would raise the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments after that. It also slows how fast assessments can grow each year on non-homestead property. It needs 60% approval to pass.

Supporters call it relief for homeowners in a state where housing costs have gotten brutal. They’re not wrong that relief is needed. But relief has to come from somewhere, and in this case it comes out of local government revenue. Sarasota County staff estimate the county would lose roughly $46.9 million in property tax revenue in FY28, about 11%, and $87.1 million in FY29, about 20%. That revenue currently supports the Sheriff’s Office, EMS, libraries, parks, beaches, lifeguards, social services, transit, and more.

Here’s where I want to be precise, because precision matters more than alarm. Our county’s primary arts and culture grant program runs on the Tourist Development Tax, not property taxes. Amendment 3 doesn’t touch that funding directly. But state lawmakers have floated redirecting tourist tax dollars toward broader public needs in recent sessions, and if property tax revenue drops the way the county projects, that conversation is going to get louder. What happens to arts funding after Amendment 3 depends less on the amendment itself and more on what local and state leaders decide to do about the hole it leaves.

And that’s really the point I want to make. This is an invitation to understand what’s actually on the ballot, because the effects reach past any one sector.

If this community takes a hit to public safety, parks, libraries, beaches, our hospital system, mental health services, animal shelters, that’s not good for the arts organizations doing business here or the arts and arts employees who call Sarasota home. A tax shift that pushes more of the cost onto renters and businesses isn’t beneficial for us either. Arts organizations don’t operate in a bubble. We depend on the same civic infrastructure everyone else does: safe streets, responsive emergency personnel, a functioning social safety net. When that erodes, we feel it too.

On Monday, October 5th, we’re hosting Arts & Taxes at Florida Studio Theatre. Doors open at 5:30, program runs 6 to 7. We’ll have a panel of speakers who will walk through what Amendment 3 says, how public dollars currently reach arts organizations in this county, and what could change. We’re looking at it from both a state and local perspective. It’s free, but we’re asking you to reserve a seat at sarasotaarts.org.

You don’t need to already have an opinion to come. You just need to want to understand what you’re voting on. That’s the whole point.

Brian Hersh is the CEO of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County. 

Photo credit: Sorcha Augustine Photography | Arts Summit, May 2026.