The Illinois Education Association (IEA) released its second annual State of Education report, the only bipartisan poll asking Illinoisans about all aspects of public schools. The results show that despite changes made to make the teaching profession more attractive, including enacting the $40,000 minimum salary law, Illinoisans still give our public schools a poor grade, believe teachers are paid too little and many would not advise family members to become teachers.  The data show that on the whole, the public believes our schools are doing poorly and the state of Illinois is on the wrong track. Fixing our public schools is ranked high on Illinoisans’ priority list, above reducing crime, balancing the state budget and lowering taxes.  Seventy-one percent of Illinois residents believe funding for our schools should increase. More than 80 percent of the public believes our education support staff, like paraprofessionals and classroom aides, are paid too little.  The poll, conducted by Normington-Petts and We Ask America, surveyed 1,000 Illinoisans between Nov. 13 and 21. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent with 95 percent confidence. For more information, please go to www.ieanea.org/iea-state-of-education.