A new poll commissioned by child-advocacy groups shows more than three-fourths of Mecklenburg residents questioned say they'd be willing to pay more taxes to support public schools.

Nearly the same percentage says the same for public pre-kindergarten programs like Bright Beginnings.

The poll of 1,007 registered Mecklenburg voters, taken Friday and Saturday by Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling, asked: "How much of an increase in local property taxes would you be willing to pay to support Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools?"

Given a menu of options, 78 percent said they'd support some increase, while 22 percent said they would not be willing to pay more taxes.

Full Results from the poll

Asked how much more state or local taxes they'd pay so low-income families can access public pre-K, 77 percent said they'd support some increase, while 23 percent said they would not.

Child Care Resources and the Larry King Center of the Council for Children's Rights commissioned the poll. Officials with the two groups said the findings show how deeply concerned the public is about potential pre-K and public K-12 education cuts.

Tonight, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board is slated to discuss its plans to cut $10.4 million from the Bright Beginnings pre-K program as part of a range of cuts aimed at closing a $100 million budget gap.

The groups behind the study said they will present the findings to school board members at the meeting. They also plan to take the results to Mecklenburg commissioners, who supply almost 30 percent of CMS's money.

Janet Singerman, head of Child Care Resources, said the agencies commissioned the study because local school board members and commissioners had asked the public to help them find options for handling their budget problems.

Increasing taxes could be one.

"We hope it will inform them that there are a number of voters in Mecklenburg County who would consider such a strategy," Singerman said.

Brett Loftis, head of the Council for Children's Rights, said the poll shows voters are aware of and concerned by the potential education cuts.

"People don't want to pay more money into a black hole," he said. "But this community has found plenty of ways to fund things we value... and this is something we value."

County commissioner Bill James dismissed the findings as the result of what he called "a gimme poll" - one in which activists phrase leading questions in hopes respondents will give them the hoped-for answer. He reiterated his belief that CMS's budget hole will ultimately prove to be as deep as $200 million.

"Where exactly do people think this huge amount of money is going to come from?" he asked. "If some pollster wants to ask a question, then ask a specific question: 'Would you pay 20 percent more to fund Bright Beginnings?'"

Singerman defended the findings, saying the groups asked fair questions and the public answered. Public Policy Polling conducted the survey free of cost. The margin of error was 3.1 percent.

They released the findings on the heels of a speech the groups sponsored Monday morning by former Observer editor and Miami Herald publisher David Lawrence. He called on local officials to spare Bright Beginnings, even as he lauded a pre-K program Florida offers all its 4-year-olds.

Lawrence, a child advocate who helped push for the program, said Florida voters approved spending more on their program because it wasn't solely to benefit low-income children.

"We argued that it's about everybody's children," he said. "You're not going to build a movement when it's about 'those' children."