SENECA — The war of words between the Oconee County Council and the School District of Oconee County Board of Trustees rages on.

Council Chairman George Blanchard lashed out at the school board Tuesday night, saying that had that group put as much work into its budget as the council put into theirs, they would have had enough money to fund requests without asking the county for more.

School officials were initially rebuked in a request to get $1.2 million of additional funding. The money would have been in addition to $54 million the county is required to pay under the state’s mandated maintenance of effort requirement. Later, however, the county, on a 3-1 vote, relented and agreed to give the school $450,000 extra to supplement teacher salaries in an effort to be more competitive in the teacher labor market.

While school administrators were meeting with county officials to discuss the compromise, school board members were going public with criticism of the council. Tuesday night Blanchard said he didn’t respond to that criticism initially but said he should have.

“I resent those comments,” he said, firing back that the council is not “backward”

as one school board member suggested.

Blanchard referenced news reports suggesting the state has put school funding on a collision course with itself by adjusting public tax laws while continuing to require that schools and counties annually increase school funding. Then, he ripped school board members for not dealing with that incongruity.

“If they had looked at their budget with the intensity we looked at ours, they could have found the money themselves,” he said, referring to six budget workshops the county held.

Blanchard went on to say that council members would be happy to sit down with the school board next year and go over their budget with them.

No other council members responded to Blanchard’s comments Tuesday night.