Gov. Pritzker signs off on 2025 fiscal year budget

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Governor J. B. Pritzker has officially signed the budget for the 2025 fiscal year. 

Lawmakers passed the $53 billion spending plan last week. 

The governor was joined by a number of state officials for the signing in Springfield on Wednesday, celebrating his sixth balanced budget during his time in office. 

The spending plan includes $198 million for the state's rainy day fund, more than $500 million in education funding increases, $14 million to create a new Department of Early Childhood and elimination of the statewide grocery tax. 

"This budget that I just signed increased spending only by 1.6% in a world where there's 3.2% inflation. So, just take note of that. For all the complaining that I've heard from people about what amounted mostly to a sports betting company increase in tax on people already making hundreds of millions of dollars from Illinois," Pritzker said. "The reality is that this was a good budget. It did the right things…" 

The budget doesn't include money to help the Chicago Bears build a new stadium on the Chicago lakefront. 

It's unclear if that is something lawmakers will be discussing in the future.