As new teachers are set to see a starting pay increase next year Democrat Governor JB Pritzker says it shouldn’t increase local property taxes. 

Pritzker says a $500 million bump in state funding to education should cover any extra costs and his commitment to improving state funding of education can help ease the burden that has been years in the making.

The Governor says right now there are about 235,000 teachers in Illinois and about 8,000 positions would benefit from a required increase in starting pay.