On Tuesday, Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald made a startling statement about funding for the city’s adult education programs.

He said: “Look, we fund schools for these people for 13 years. If they don’t want to pay attention and use what we provide, why should we continue paying for them? It’s another example of a handout.”

Is it?

The mayor made the statement as he and councilors were divvying up the city’s remaining federal block grants, and to his dismay, he learned that the city funds adult education programs but not the sexual assault crisis center.

If adult education programs were all about basket weaving and learning how to play bridge, we might understand the mayor’s alarm.

However, education increases job opportunities and decreases the likelihood that a person might end up in jail.

Not funding adult education is akin to supporting greater reliance on social services because someone who doesn’t hold at least a high school diploma is not as likely to find a job and be able to pay rent or buy food than someone who has that diploma.

And, to assume that some students don’t graduate from high school simply because they weren’t “paying attention” is just unfair. There are all kinds of reasons that a person might drop out of school, and none of those reasons benefit the students or our communities.

The city should continue funding adult education, although it’s certainly fair to suggest that bridge and basket weaving classes be more self-supporting than academic classes.

And, should the city be funding the sexual assault crisis center? Yes.

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Taxpayers in Maine and Massachusetts usually get a break on filing deadlines for federal and state income tax returns, thanks to the annual Patriots’ Day holiday.

This year, the entire nation gets a break on filing federal returns because the traditional deadline of April 15 falls on a Sunday, and the Internal Revenue Service has extended the deadline yet another day because April 16 falls on Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia. Most states have likewise extended the deadline, except Nebraska, where state returns have to be filed by the 15th.

So, if you haven’t gotten your taxes done yet, there’s still time.

And, if you haven’t gotten your taxes done yet, please consider checking off the box to contribute to the Maine Clean Election Fund. Doing so neither raises your individual taxes nor reduces your refund, but it helps fund “clean” legislative and gubernatorial races from general revenue.

Maine’s clean election format makes it possible for people with political will but without personal wealth to seek elective office, ensuring that our citizen Legislature is populated with ordinary citizens with extraordinary desire for public service.

That’s an ideal worth supporting.

Check the box.

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Most of us, while standing at a convenience store checkout, have been asked by a clerk whether we wanted to donate $1 for some charitable cause. And, many of us have donated.

On Wednesday, at the Irving Circle K Big Stop on Wilton Road in Farmington, a clerk asked a middle-aged customer whether he wanted to donate to the Children’s Miracle Network.

He donated $7,284 in cash.

After he left, police were called to ensure the cash (consisting of 100s and 20s) wasn’t stolen, and it wasn’t.

The store’s fundraising goal for CMN was $1,420.

Cheers to the anonymous donor who handed over five times that amount in the name of charity.

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The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and editorial board.