Nearly 60 percent of Kansans think the state should do more to keep tuition low and increase faculty salaries at its universities.

But that doesn’t mean they’re willing to pay more taxes to get it done.

According to The World Company Poll, 59 percent of Kansas voters support increasing state spending for higher education to maintain affordable tuition at universities. Twenty-nine percent opposed spending more, and 12 percent were undecided.

A slimmer majority 52 percent said they supported increasing state spending on higher education to bring professors’ salaries in line with those of professors at public universities in other states. Thirty-six percent said they opposed spending more for faculty salaries, and 12 percent were undecided.

“Voters in Kansas want to maintain a strong public education system for their kids,” said pollster Brad Coker. “I’m not terribly surprised they want to increase salaries and standards and keep tuition low. The real question is whether they’re willing to increase taxes to pay for it. That’s where the rubber meets the road on an education question. If it involves a tax increase, they tend to hesitate a little.”

Though the poll didn’t specifically ask voters whether they’d support paying more taxes to better support higher education, 48 percent of those polled said they wanted to pay more in taxes for public schools. Of those, few were willing to commit to supporting an increase in any specific tax.

Geography played a role in support of public universities. Kansans in the 3rd Congressional District, which includes Lawrence, were far more likely to support education spending than those in the 1st District, which covers the western half of the state.

“People just don’t want to increase their taxes,” said Tom Mulinazzi, an engineering professor and president of Kansas University’s Faculty Council. “The majority of people in the hinterlands of Kansas think we get paid too much already.”

The average KU faculty member made $69,545 this year, according to KU data. That’s about $1,600 less than the average faculty member at KU’s state-selected peer schools and $1,900 less than the average at other Big 12 schools.

But it’s significantly more than the average Kansas household income, which was $36,488, according to the 2000 census.

Steve McCabe, a professor of engineering and chairman of civil and environmental engineering at KU, said he was surprised 52 percent of Kansans supported spending more to increase faculty salaries.

“Our own experience in fund raising is if you talk to alumni to raise money for faculty salaries, it’s a harder sell than doing things for students,” he said. “There’s a perception pay is not an issue.”

But McCabe said he wasn’t surprised by the geographic split.

“They work pretty hard for their money out there,” he said, “and they’re going to be wary of giving money up for anything that’s not a necessity. If you’re well away from the university, it’s not something that enters in your mind.”

Janet Murguia, KU’s executive vice chancellor for university relations, noted the poll had similar results to a survey conducted by KU this winter.

“It doesn’t show they want more taxes, but they want the state to step up and pay for higher education,” she said. “They’re willing to defer to leaders, and they want the end result to be quality, affordable education.”