Nottingham is leading the legal challenge after £33m worth of funding, intended for three schemes in the city, was withdrawn last July by Education Secretary Michael Gove.
The council’s case will focus on two issues: the authority's expectation that the funding would be forthcoming given that the schemes had been approved; and, "the irrationality of stopping funding for Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects approved after 1 January 2010".
Luton, Kent, Waltham Forest, Newham and Sandwell councils will also have cases reviewed after Nottingham’s argument is heard.
Councillor David Mellen, Nottingham City Council's portfolio holder for children's services, said: "We are confident that we have a strong case and optimistic that the court will overturn Michael Gove's decision to stop the funding. We remain hopeful that the funding previously agreed will continue so that we can push ahead with our plans to transform teaching and learning and deliver 21st century facilities."
Projects at more than 700 schools were axed in July following the government’s decision to cut the multi-million-pound BSF programme.
Commenting on the cases being heard this week, a Department for Education spokesman said: "The Secretary of State terminated the Building Schools for the Future programme because it was unnecessarily complex, poor value for money and unaffordable in the economic climate. In none of the cases are these local authorities challenging the wider decision to end BSF.
"We are robustly defending the claims made by the local authorities and believe we have a strong case. The coalition government has been clear that the end of BSF is not the end of school rebuilding. That’s why we have launched a comprehensive review of all capital spending so that school building can be done more efficiently and quickly."
