Continued debate this week over legal spending on a lawsuit between the regional high school committee and the Oak Bluffs planning board over artificial turf eclipsed what was arguably a much more important development: approval by all six towns of a new high school funding formula.

Recall that four years ago, Oak Bluffs voters refused to approve a feasibility study for a new high school, arguing that the formula was unfair. That lack of Island unanimity was blamed at the time for the high school being passed over for many millions of dollars in funding by the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

In the intervening years, the Island was able to hash out a revised formula. On Wednesday, Aquinnah became the final Island town to approve the formula and agree to pay its share of a $2 million study to upgrade or replace the school, which was built in 1959 and is in dire need of rehabilitation. At all six town meetings, the study authorization sailed through.

Now it is time for the school committee to prioritize the overall need for a decent facility for Island students by withdrawing its controversial fields plan and coming up with a comprehensive plan for the high school that addresses both the building and the athletic fields, taking the Island’s temperature anew for a turf plan that is now several years old.

The MSBA has tentatively approved $38 million in funding toward the study and subsequent high school renovation. The Island can ill afford to risk losing that money by continuing an inter-governmental fight with the Oak Bluffs planning board that calls attention to an ongoing issue on which the Island cannot agree.