As goes Coupeville, so goes Oak Harbor.

That’s true at least as far as school construction costs go. Both North Whidbey communities are suffering from the rapidly rising costs of construction.

Inflation hit Coupeville first. After voters approved a high school bond issue, costs rose so rapidly that the project had to be pared back and some aspects of it delayed. But the situation now appears stable and the new high school is on the right track.

Oak Harbor learned from Coupeville’s experience by padding last November’s stadium bond proposal with extra dollars to account for inflation. But it wasn’t padded enough, as hindsight clearly shows. The stadium project is $600,000 over budget at this point and it won’t even go out for bid until October.

The school board is doing the right thing in scraping together funds wherever they can be found to build Oak Harbor residents the facility that was advertised. It’ll delay a few other projects in the district, and require the shifting of priorities, but it’s important that the football stadium be first-rate. We’ve waited too long for a respectable stadium to lose it to inflation.

Rapid growth in China is often blamed for the skyrocketing costs of construction materials as it soaks up much of the world’s supply of concrete and aluminum. Locally, there’s also intense competition for supplies as the building boom in the Puget Sound region keeps builders as busy as they want to be. School district projects throughout the area are being hammered by inflation and unexpectedly high bids.

Inflation is also bound to have a negative impact on the Oak Harbor High School renovation project voters approved just this spring, although it’s too early in the planning process to know just how much. As designs are prepared and costs estimated, it’s a good bet that the school board will be scrambling to fill in more financial gaps and to find more funding sources. Chances are, the project will be somewhat less in scope than anticipated when the bond measure went to the voters.

Superintendent of Schools Rick Schulte has a tough job ahead making sure the district’s big construction projects come in on time, on budget, and sufficiently complete to retain the public’s trust. If he can do all that, he deserves the hefty 6.3 percent pay increase the school board awarded him last week.