Chicago teachers are getting an incredible raise. After winning its most generous contract concessions in 11 years, the Chicago Teachers Union has secured a 4 percent pay raise for each of the next five years. That will bring Chicago schools' starting salaries to $42,021 and the top salary to $74,874. On top of that, teachers will work six fewer days, bringing the Chicago school year down to the state mandated minimum of 174 days. To "compensate", each day will now be twenty minutes longer, but only eight of the twenty minutes need to be scheduled for instruction.