When money gets tight, people naturally get testy. It leads to disagreements, fights and, in some extreme cases, divorce.

That’s as true of governments as it is of families. When times are good, and the economy is doing well, government agencies are happy to work together on projects, sharing resources and working toward a common goal. But when the money stops flowing, there’s often a bitter, divisive fight over what little that remains.

The current dispute between the Gloucester Board of Supervisors and the Gloucester School Board is, at its heart, not very different from that of a married couple arguing over household finances.

Last week, supervisors voted by a 4-3 margin not to consider a request by the chairman of the school board to delay taking action on a change from lump sum to categorical funding until the two boards could first sit down together and discuss the matter.

It wasn’t as if they had officially entertained the request, considered its rela...