In 2006, the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled that the state had to increase school spending in New York City. At the time, Mr. Rebell led a group known as the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which won the court ruling.

A year later, the Legislature and Gov. Eliot Spitzer struck a statewide solution: They promised to funnel out $7 billion worth of additional aid in the next four years. But the recession hit, tax collections fell and the entire amount never materialized.

The Court of Appeals had said it was up to the Legislature to come up with the money, and declined to order it to do so.

Referring to the new case as “the daughter of C.F.E.,” Mr. Rebell said he was optimistic there would be a different outcome, in part because of similar rulings in other states in the intervening years. He also noted that of the seven judges on the Court of Appeals, only three were involved in the original case.

“We had a big victory last time, but the state didn’t follow up on it appropriately,” he said.

The lawsuit is seeking $1.6 billion in immediate relief to local school districts. It is also seeking to have recently enacted caps on local property taxes, which are a major source of school funding outside New York City, rescinded. In the long run, it seeks the creation of a system to “closely monitor student needs and the adequacy of the resources that are available in every school in the state,” Mr. Rebell said.