Pritzker signs $50.4 billion budget that boosts early education funding — and stops state officials’ raises from breaking the law

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the state’s $50.4 billion budget Wednesday at Christopher House, an early education center in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday signed his fifth budget — a $50.4 billion spending plan that Democrats called “balanced in every sense,” which included a line-item correction lowering proposed pay raises to the tune of more than $192,000.

Pritzker signed the measure at the Christopher House, an early education center in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood, flanked by Democrats, including Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Illinois Senate President Don Harmon.