Governor JB Pritzker signs bill raising minimum teacher salary to $40K

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Some teachers in Illinois will see their pay go up.

Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation raising teachers' minimum salary to $40,000. The goal is to address a shortage of teachers across the state.

"As Illinois children head back to school this week and next, this new law says to them and their parents loud and clear: we value teachers," said Governor JB Pritzker. "In signing this legislation, we're addressing our teacher shortage and gradually putting teachers on track to make at least $40,000 a year by the first day of school in 2023. To teachers all across Illinois: I see the care and compassion you put into your work, and I'm proud to help make sure you earn what you're worth."

Pritzker's office said the current minimum teacher salary ranges from $9,000 to $11,000 and has not been raised in decades. The increase will be phased in over the next four years and in the years after that, the minimum salary will rise based on the Consumer Price Index.

Pritzker claimed at the news conference that about 8,000 teachers will be impacted by the bill when it reaches $40,000 as minimum in the 2023-2024 school year. But the ABC7 I-Team found that in the first year, only about 1,300 teachers will get a raise. But right now 9,931 teachers make less than $40,000, so all their salaries would be raised at different points in the next three years as their current salaries stand.

In 2020, the bill raises the minimum full-time teacher salary to $32,076. Data from the Illinois State Board of Education shows at present only 1,307 educators make less than that right now.

In 2021, the minimum salary will be $34,576 and 1,520 teachers will get a raise that year. In 2022, the minimum salary becomes $37,076 and about 2,807 teachers will get a raise that year.

In 2023 when the minimum salary reaches $40,000 about 4,297 teachers will get a raise.

Overall, just under 10,000 teachers will receive raises by 2023.

On Wednesday, Governor Pritzker signed into law legislation to prevent landlords from evicting or retaliating against undocumented tenants simply because of their immigration status. Illinois becomes the second state in the country, after California, to put such a law on the books.