when i was listening to the mayor's remark, all i can hear is kaching and all of sounds is there is money for the opera house, right, mr. mayor? okay. i want to take this moment to acknowledge our wonderful mayor ed lee. this is a man who has walked and talked an are congruent with each other. mr. decaneey this you so much for being a director of a progressive forward thinking arts institution. and to the city family, thank you for understanding the significance of this building and more importantly the role it plays in the community. i want to acknowledge an amazing woman who has provided leadership to the community. she has afforded blood sweat and tears and this is ms. barbara -- barbara i want to give a moment to recognize your staff to help keep run this place and your dashing security. who is not listening but i will get him later. thank you, everyone who supports the organization who donates to the opera house to help keep programs alive like dare to dream. if you are a donor, please continue. we need to continue to provide a safe space for arts and culture in the community. lastly

i'm not opposed to testing children to find out what they know, because we use tests to kach. tees are high stakes. the results come out over the summer, after the schoolier ended, so no one can use the information, it's the number. parent get into information. stakes. >> you don't have a problem with standards involved in common core, and what they are trying to teach, what they profess or are trying to do is make sure that all children have a certain level of education and graduate. >> there's nothing wrong with standards, and high quality schools had standards, but they are set by experts in the field, teachers, administration, community who can reflect what we know children need to learn and do. it's fine to have a conversation about standards, it's silly to attach funding and attach qualifications to one test. >> as you know, all the studies of where america ranks, we are doing terrible. >> we are. >> so if we do implement common core as expected in new york, adopting it early, spreading to the country, how do you figure out whether it's working or not if we don't have th