A federal appellate court ruled (PDF) that the Chicago Board of Education owes $37.5 million in back pay to the Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund. The Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund filed the complaint back in July of 2010, arguing that the school board should have provided $345 million, not $307.4 million, in fiscal year 2010 pension contributions.

“It is our Board of Trustees’ responsibility to make sure that our bills are paid fairly. It is also our Trustees’ fiduciary duty to recover every possible dollar owed to the fund, and we believed strongly that the Board of Education should not have held back this money,” said Executive Director Kevin Huber in a press release today. “We’re glad the appellate court agreed.”

A circuit court initially ruled in favor of the school board. 

The ruling comes amid much hand-wringing over the Chicago Public Schools budget, including the cost of teacher pensions.