Few things seem more confusing than school ratings: on the one hand, Polk County Public Schools received a C grade from the state, based on FCAT and end-of-course tests; on the other, Polk has just been named the 2012 Advance Placement Equity and Excellence Large District of the Year by the National College Board — the second year in a row it has won the award for reaching underserved students.

At a special School Board meeting Tuesday morning to discuss advertising the 2012-13 tentative budget meeting on July 31, board members took the opportunity to express their displeasure with the state’s grading system after Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson visited Bartow and Lakeland on Monday.