46 percent of Illinois residents support law banning 'critical race theory' in schools

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - A new report from the Illinois Education Association has some interesting insights on what is called "critical race theory."

The educational concept has gotten a lot of attention from Republican politicians who have worked to ban it in several states.

In their annual report, the Illinois Education Association asked state residents whether they'd support a law banning critical race theory — 46 percent support that while 50 percent are opposed.

When asked about teaching high school students about slavery and its impacts, 83 percent were in support while 15 percent were against.

In addition, 73 percent support teaching high school students about the impact of racism while 25 percent are against it.

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The president of the Illinois Education Association weighed in on the efforts to ban critical race theory on the K-12 level.

"I think one of the first things we have to ask those parents and politicians is, ‘what do they think CRT is?’ I am going to speculate that most Americans did not even hear about critical race theory until it became political, because it really is at the collegiate level. It is not something that we teach in our k-12 schools," said President Kathi Griffin.

On another topic, the report found that 51 percent said that teachers in their community needed a raise while 31 percent said teacher pay was about right.