Easy come, easy go

MARLBOROUGH

An accounting miscalculation gave the Marlborough schools an extra $788,000 in next year's proposed school budget, but city officials are not about to let the school department hang onto the extra money.

This week, city councilor Richard Towle, a retired English teacher, proposed restoring $288,000 of the money to the schools budget, citing numerous programs where the money could be used. He also said a growing number of children are opting out of the public schools to attend the Advanced Math & Science Academy charter school in the city.

The measure failed to pass. Finance Committee chairman Mike Ossing, who discovered the accounting error, said that every department in the city could "find a use for the money."

-- Megan Woolhouse