By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – Supporters of that “teacher minimum pay” bill – which the governor vetoed – are hopeful of an override when the legislature is back after the election.
The bill would create a minimum salary for teachers that would ramp up to $40,000 in five years.
“You’ve got (Gov.) Bruce Rauner, who spent millions of dollars destroying the lives of working people,” State Rep. Christian Mitchell (D-Chicago) said, “and you’ve got a conversation about whether or not we can pay a teacher $40,000 to enrich our kids and invest in the future; there’s something wrong with that conversation, and what we are trying to do here is say, we want to set a floor, but we also want to have a conversation about, how do we invest in the most important profession that any of us have been touched by anywhere in our lives? And this is the start of that.”
At a Springfield news conference, Mitchell joined the bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill), who said Rauner either doesn’t get it or he’s just trying to deceive everyone else:
“The governor referenced a statewide salary schedule in his veto message. There isn’t one. So this is an attempt to use the tricks that we’ve been used to for four years to try to stop good public policy in the state.”
The governor said he dislikes unfunded mandates, as well as a requirement to raise everybody’s pay, regardless of performance. Supporters say Illinois’ teacher shortage is at a crisis level.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].
