Roy Barnes in 2001 Governor's State of the State speeches

On Education: End social promotion

We should do this in fairness to our teachers, because accountability is a two-way street. And if we are going to insist on accountability for our schools, we must insist that no student be promoted to the next grade level until he is proficient in the subject matter he was supposed to learn that year. But mostly, we should do it in fairness to those students who are passing through our system today without learning what they need to know. By promoting a child who is not really ready, we say, “It’s OK if you don’t learn.” Well, I say, it is not okay.

On Families & Children: More restrictions on teenage driving

We need to limit the number of teenage passengers a young driver can carry. We need to impose stricter curfews. And we need to ensure that our young people have the experience they need before getting behind the wheel of a car without an adult to help them. I agree that any teenager should have 40 hours of supervised driving before they can get a license and why I think that teens driving in metro-Atlanta should be 17 before they can drive alone in these heavily congested areas.

The only excuse I’ve heard to any of these teen driving proposals is that it may cause some inconvenience. I ask you to consider them carefully because they save lives.