It’s one of my son Luca’s most used phrases around the house these days. Having recently been given a prescription for glasses, finding a supportive, constructive way to teach a three year old the individual responsibility of consistently wearing eyeglasses, meant digging deep into reserves of patience and creativity.

Since in my advancing years I wear glasses for reading and screen work, I struck a deal with Luca- we would work together, as a team, to both wear our glasses more. Of course, the downside to this is I’m wearing my glasses now at times when I don’t need them, but, the team of support we’ve built brings a smile to my face every time he reminds me to do the right thing.

Both Finn and Luca are now at an age that opens them up to what Daddy does for public service- a lot of phone calls, a lot of meetings, and lots of different offices to keep track of (the downstairs office, the work office here in Reno, the Carson City office…) And while they don’t quite grasp the “what” or the “why,” they are my team mates, supportive little inquisitive guys who prod me to see things with a new perspective everyday.

And what an expansive perspective that is. As a legislator, I’m blessed with opportunities to work on a dizzying array of policy issues impacting Nevadans. As a father, I can’t help but think of what the little girl in an elementary school dreams of for her future as I’m taking a tour of her classroom. I wonder, and worry, about the single mother of three boys in Reno whose door I’ve knocked, and how she’s gonna make it in this tough economy.

When I was approached earlier this year about the opportunity of running for local office, it was the countless people like I’ve described that I thought of in making my decision. And I am extremely grateful for all the support and advice I received (online and off) as I considered how best to move forward with my service.

While I’m confident as a local government elected I could continue my work for those I’m privileged to serve, I have much left to do as a legislator. Building better schools for our kids, strengthening our economy by fostering innovation in key sectors like renewable energy, and protecting the unique quality of life our families enjoy here in Nevada, are all efforts I’m glad to have contributed to over my six years of service.

But I’m not done. We’ve got so much more to do, and now that there are the first signs of life for a renewed economy, I feel a special obligation to forward the rebuilding process for a better tomorrow for all Nevadans. After having fought the draconian budgets of two different Governors that have hampered our schools and other services needed by working Nevadans, I want to work to make sure Nevada’s on the right course for achieving its full potential, for all, in the coming years.

It’s the long view. That’s why I’m running for re-election to Assembly District 24. I look forward to meeting new neighbors to fight for in the months ahead, and for carrying their perspectives to Carson City in the next session.

This morning in Carson City, the Legislative Commission’s Budget Subcommittee (essentially the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committee prior to the gavel dropping to open the regular session) began its review of the budget’s specifics.

For your information, here are two documents outlining the Governor’s approach to meeting our constitutional obligation to balance our budget:

• Budget Overview (pdf)
• Executive Budget 2011-2013 (pdf)

While I, like many of my legislative colleagues are committed to working with the Governor and welcome his fresh perspective on the difficult choices we have to make in bridging our $2.7 billion budget shortfall, as we learned today in our first hearing, many of the cuts he is proposing have dramatic consequences for Nevada’s students and families (read the Las Vegas Sun’s overview.) In the coming days, we will continue our review, and then begin the complicated process of working together to come up with a legislative budget in response.

I encourage everyone concerned with the proposed budget to watch our hearings online (schedule) and to attend our budget town halls this Saturday at 9am- the Reno location being the Washoe County Commission Chambers, 1001 E. Ninth Street.

Reviewing student evaluation system examples at a Clark County elementary school.

To kick off the Assembly Education Committee’s work, we took a tour of Clark County School District sites this past Friday (coverage from the Las Vegas Sun.) The day was packed with information from students, teachers, and administrators about the state of the schools, with a dose of reality about what further cuts to education funding will mean for student achievement.

Some highlights of what we saw and learned:

• Students reading at a grade or more above level at Halle Hewetson Elementary School, thanks to an accelerated reading program that creates a culture of literacy by rewarding and teaching students how fun books can be.
• While the high transiency rate of students in Clark County schools has been a legendary challenge, it has declined of late in part due to the stagnant economy.
• Federal stimulus money, which our state likely won’t see again in the foreseeable future, has been used to make targeted reductions in class sizes to benefit learning.
• The class of 2010 received $189 million in scholarship funds (district-wide, not just Clark High School as incorrectly reported in the Sun.)
• Lots of examples of school-based decision making dependent on rigorous analysis of student achievement data.
• And while students in an A.P. Government class struggled to name the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, my jaw dropped as I listened to one student give a synopsis of the landmark Affirmative Action court case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.

Thank you, students, faculty and administrators for hosting us! Las Vegas Channel 3 has a report.

Download the video (81 mb), or watch it streaming (may not work in Firefox.)



Duties will include bill tracking, monitoring committee hearings, support for the Assembly Education Committee, correspondence drafting, and other duties as assigned (minimal coffee making.) The schedule and number of hours is flexible according to your class schedule and internship credit requirements, but Monday and/or Wednesday afternoon (after 3 pm) availability is desirable.

Please email a cover letter, detailing your interest and what you hope to gain from an internship experience, and a resume to David “at” David Bobzien “dot” com. Be sure to set the message subject line to “Legislative internship application.” Political science and journalism majors preferred but not required. The position is unpaid and located in Carson City.

The first is an article from the Atlantic, “Your Child Left Behind,” examining how state top achievement scores stack up against countries around the world.

Imagine for a moment that a rich, innovative company is looking to draft the best and brightest high-school grads from across the globe without regard to geography. Let’s say this company’s recruiter has a round-the-world plane ticket and just a few weeks to scout for talent. Where should he go?

Not surprisingly, the answers are discouraging. Review the data yourself with a provided interactive chart.

The second is a ten-minute video interview of Education Secretary Arne Duncan by the Financial Times’ Anna Fifield. In it, Secretary Duncan provides an overview of the Obama administration’s education reform efforts, efforts that have direct connection to reform discussions taking place right now in Nevada.

A few days later, I purchased a copy of the book, “NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children” by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman (listen to an NPR review from last year), and began what I saw as my part keeping up with my wife’s evolving parenting philosophy. I was delighted to find its critique of conventional wisdom didn’t just apply to child rearing, but to policy making as well.

Organized in bite-sized chapters on such issues as sleep deprivation, gifted and talented identification, race relations, and bullying, the book provides thumbnail views of the latest in child development science designed to shatter long-held beliefs. While I’m still reading the book, I’ve been hyping the book to parent friends of mine ever since I finished the first chapter.

As for the policy makers around me… I would suggest it as well. While I’m not endorsing any of the specific recommendations, I do support its approach: breaking down every usual perspective of what will “fix” education, and considering what ideas are evidenced-based as a way to reform education in Nevada and build up our students for the jobs of tomorrow.

I’m someone who cringed when I heard in past Assembly Education committee hearings, “well when I was in school, we did x,” or “what worked when we raised our kids was y.” Now, I know I’ve been guilty of such offenses myself, (“back in my day, we programmed in BASIC”) but I urge everyone with an interest in the steps we can take next legislative session to move our schools forward to read this book. At the end of the day, if Nevada is going to get back to work, we have to go back to school- and challenge ourselves with new thinking.

Here are the final numbers (unofficial until the county completes its canvass) from the Washoe County Voter Registrar:

State Assembly Dist. 24     35/35      100%
DEM - BOBZIEN, DAVID        8,893    64.54%
REP - JOHNSON, MONTE        4,886    35.46%
TOTAL                      13,779   100.00%

I’m proud to have run a campaign on the issues, in contrast to the opposition’s negative campaign of baseless-accusations (“Voted against the Reno Aces!”, “Doesn’t support Nevada’s schools!”) This is the second re-election campaign I’ve faced of negative mailers and annoying robo-calls, and it’s heartening to see such campaigns just aren’t that effective in District 24. As one of my constituent’s said on Facebook:

Congratulations! It’s nice to see someone run an honest campaign and get the victory. I was not happy with the messages on my home phone with Monte Johnson’s false accusations against you.

Now begins the real work, preparing for one of the toughest legislative sessions in Nevada’s history. Here’s what I shared with Channel 4 on election night (yes, that was day one of my cold!):

Watch this blog for updates on committee assignments, bill drafts, and other items I’ll be working on ahead of the 2011 legislative session. Thank you again for your support!