By Jason Weinstein.

New York's Education Commissioner came to the Binghamton area to meet with students and school officials, but she also talked about Common Core and the school tax cap.


MaryEllen Elia visited Jennie F Snapp Middle School in Endicott, Broome-Tioga BOCES in Binghamton, and the brand new $72 million MacArthur Elementary School in Binghamton.


She hopes changes to Common Core's implementation including unlinking test scores to teacher evaluations for four years will mean fewer people will opt out of the tests.


"We will be shortening all assessments in grades three through eight in Language Arts and Mathmatics, and allowing students who are productively working to continue to work. So, it won't be a timed test creating more stress for them," said Elia.


Wednesday the state Comptroller announced the school tax cap for 2016-2017 will be .12 percent. Some districts have said with rising mandated costs that cap could lead to cuts. Elia says she's going to work with the board of regents and state legislature to try to avoid having districts throughout the state forced into cuts.