My mom was a teacher - I have the greatest respect for the profession - we need great teachers - not poor or mediocre ones.

Rice links her policy-oriented emphasis on educational quality to personal biography: her mother, Angelena Rice, was a teacher. The quote argues that respect for teaching should translate into high expectations—society should recruit, support, and retain excellent teachers rather than tolerate low performance. Implicitly, it gestures toward debates over teacher preparation, evaluation, and accountability, framing them not as attacks on educators but as a way of honoring the profession’s importance. The contrast between “great” and “poor or mediocre” teachers underscores her belief that teacher quality is a decisive factor in student outcomes and national competitiveness.