The United Federation of Teachers, alongside a coalition of parents and community groups, filed a lawsuit today against the New York City Department of Education, claiming that it failed to properly allocate more than $750 million in state funding to improve educational conditions and reduce class sizes.

In 2007, the city accepted $258 million in Contracts for Excellence funds from the state -- $158 million of which was allotted specifically to support a five-year class size reduction plan. In April 2008, a report commissioned by the UFT showed that nearly half of the schools that received this funding did not see such reductions, while 34 percent saw class sizes increase.

These findings were supported bya September 2008 report from the New York State Education Department revealing that class size and/or pupil-to-teacher ratio had increased in 54 percent of schools receiving funding, and in 70 schools that received over $20 million in funds.class sizes graph<!--more-->

During the summer of 2008, the city accepted another $378 million in C4E funds, with $146 million earmarked specifically for reducing class size during the 2008/2009 school year -- a year that would see the largest class size increases in a decade, according to a fact sheet from Class Size Matters.

In September 2009 City Comptroller Bill Thompson released an audit showing that $48.6 million dollars allocated to support the City's Early Grade Class Reduction Program were misused. More than 100 schools used this money to supplant tax levy funds instead, among other abuses. The UFT's lawsuit aims to hold the city accountable for this misuse, charging that the DOE "has refused to perform a duty required by law."

"New York City promised in writing that it would use specific funds to reduce class size," said UFT President Michael Mulgrew in the coalition's press release, "It then turned around and ignored its promise."

Have classes sizes increased at your school? Let us know.

For more information on the law suit see the UFT's press release below:

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