The lawsuit filed Wednesday by the UFT, the NAACP, elected officials and others also targets 18 charter schools that are slated to expand or to share space with traditional public schools.
Fifteen of the 22 schools that the Department of Education plans to close were on the list to close last year. The UFT successfully challenged the closings, and the Department of Education put the schools back on this year's list.
UFT President Michael Mulgrew said the department doesn't seem to have learned its lesson.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the union is trying to keep students in failing schools.
