The Yukon government has been ordered to pay $400,000 in legal costs to the French-language school board as the two sides continue to fight over francophone education in Whitehorse.

Lawyers for both the government and the Commission scolaire francophone du Yukon (CSFY) appeared in court Thursday over a decision last month by Justice Vital Ouellette ordering the government to pay the board nearly $1.5 million in court costs and damages.

On Thursday, the government asked for that decision to be stayed pending the appeal of Ouellette's original ruling ordering the government to build a new French-language high school in Whitehorse in the next two years.

In the end, Justice Harvey Groberman ruled the government owed the board part of the money, with the remainder to be decided after the appeal is complete.

The date of the appeal has been set for March 5, 6 and 7.

CSFY president André Bourcier said the school board has spent nearly $1 million fighting the case, which originally went to trial in May 2010.

"If they had gotten a total stay, it would have been problematic for us in terms of being able to continue,” Bourcier said.

The government did not present its bills in court.

"It never should have gone to court. We could not get the government to sit down with us and we had no other choice,” Bourcier said. "I would easily imagine the government has spent twice as much as us. That is not a good use of government money.”

Bourcier said the school board would still be willing to meet with the government prior to the appeal.

"We're always willing to sit down and talk.”