Jamie Lindeman is like a lot of parents with children in school.

She has strong feelings about public schools, a mixture of positives and negatives.

The Lawrence mother of three boys, ages 8, 9 and 10, says it’s probably true that public schools have funding problems, but she suspects the problems are the result of poor administration rather than inadequate tax revenue.

“I would agree to raising taxes if there was pretty stringent accountability,” she said. “It seems there is not enough oversight of where the money is going.”

Her opinion mirrors what the vast majority of Kansans are thinking  even as politicians are claiming education is their No. 1 concern, the state’s schools are clamoring for more money and state revenues are drying up.

Eighty-four percent of registered voters think most public school systems have significant financial problems, according to The World Company Poll. But when it comes to ways of fixing the problem, voters are less unified.

Forty-eight percent would increase taxes to maintain public-school funding levels, while 40 percent oppose a tax increase and 12 percent are undecided. Forty-eight percent also would support repealing the state-mandated cap on local school districts’ spending authority, while 28 percent would oppose such a move and 24 percent were undecided.

The poll of 625 registered voters was taken Friday through Sunday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The results show that school funding is a tricky issue.

“Building a broad consensus to do anything is going to be real tough politically,” pollster Brad Coker said. “It’s going to take a good sales job.”

School funding accounts for about 50 percent of the state budget. During the past legislative session, schools received a nominal increase in per-student funding from the state  an increase most budget experts say probably will be erased because of continuing state revenue problems.

In the current gubernatorial campaign, the candidates have pledged to protect public-school funding but shied from spelling out how they will do it in the face of slumping tax collections.

According to the poll, Kansans fall into further disagreement when the question is which tax should be increased to boost funding for schools. Twenty-four percent favor increasing so-called “sin” taxes on alcohol and tobacco, 13 percent support increasing the sales tax, 5 percent think the state income tax could go up, and 3 percent would boost local property taxes.

“Getting a consensus to raise taxes is going to be tricky, if not next to impossible,” Coker said. “It’s going to be very tough for a candidate to go on the record for a tax increase for education this year,” he said.

There is more support for increasing taxes for public schools among Democrats than either Republicans or independents. The poll found 63 percent of Democrats favor an increase, compared with 39 percent of Republicans and 47 percent of independents.

Democrats also lead in favoring repeal of the local spending cap, by 55 percent to 41 percent for Republicans and 51 percent for independents.

In an analysis of regional opinion, voters in the 3rd Congressional District are most likely to favor a tax increase for schools, with 55 percent in favor. The least support, at 41 percent, was in the 2nd District. The 3rd District includes Johnson County and east Lawrence. The 2nd District includes west Lawrence, Topeka and Manhattan. In the 1st District, which includes western Kansas, 47 percent of voters support an increase.

The World Company Poll was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C. The poll included telephone interviews with 625 registered voters who vote regularly in state elections. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points. Interviews were conducted Friday through Sunday. The poll was sponsored by the Lawrence Journal-World, 6News, World Online, and other Kansas media outlets.