Sugar Land and Fort Bend ISD leaders are teaming up in their disdain for the Texas Education Agency's new A-F school grading system for schools. City Council and the board of trustees discussed drafting a joint resolution Monday, calling on the state to repeal the system. Many education officials have panned the system and the preliminary letter grades issued by the state in early January. During a special meeting at the FBISD Administration Building, Council Member Mary Joyce said she was shocked to learn that the grades were based on data that was missing or unavailable to the state. In an exclusive story in January, Community Impact Newspaper reported on specific pieces of data that were left out of TEA’s grading formulas. FBISD earned grades of ‘A’ in student progress, ‘B’ in student achievement, ‘D’ in postsecondary readiness, and ‘C’ for the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged student achievement. TEA called this year’s grades “preliminary,” and warned they should not be considered true measures of performance. Still, hundreds of Texas school districts have called on the legislature to do away with the grading system. “Our students will have the scarlet letter of A through F emblazoned on them for a long time even though the next year it may change,” FBISD Trustee Jim Rice said. The resolution considered on Monday states that “at least 16 states have implemented a similar rating system utilizing A through F grades for schools and districts and, to date, there is no definitive research that suggests these ratings have improved student or school performance.” The resolution considered also calls on the legislature to “develop a community‐based accountability system that empowers school districts to design their own internal systems of assessment and accountability…and allowing districts to innovate and customize curriculum and instruction to meet the needs and interests of each student and their communities.” Officials did not say when a resolution may be finalized.