ALBANY – A statewide poll released yesterday finds 2-1 support for a court proposal that would give New York City schools $5.6 billion more in state aid.

Most New Yorkers also said they don’t want to rely on slot machines to pay for it, and half could support cutting state aid to wealthier schools to benefit poorer ones, according to the Quinnipiac University poll.

The poll finds upstate – even outside the major cities – solidly and equally behind the New York City aid proposal now before a judge. The poll also finds nine of 10 New Yorkers in every sector calling for increased aid for underperforming schools outside New York City.

“That’s heartening news because that would suggest the political difficulties in reformulating state aid to make sure there is adequate funding for all school districts … may not be as nettlesome an issue as some fear,” said Assembly Education Committee Chairman Steven Sanders. “We have said over and over again that this just can’t be done for New York City, that it has to be done for all school districts.”

Governor Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver failed to negotiate a statewide settlement to the civil lawsuit before the court’s deadline. The court has been bound by the parameters of the decade-old lawsuit by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. The suit applies only to the needs of underperforming New York City schools.

“We continue to actively negotiate a statewide resolution with all interested parties,” said a spokesman for Mr. Pataki, Kevin Quinn. “The governor believes reaching a compromise is the only way we can achieve true and timely reform.”

“It might look different when they get the bill, but for now, New Yorkers from Montauk to Jamestown agree with the court-appointed panel’s finding that New York City school children should get billions in extra help,” said the director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, Maurice Carroll.

A court-appointed panel this month recommended the eventual doubling of state aid to improve New York City schools as part of a $23 billion increase in operating and capital funding over five years.

The panel said the state Legislature can make the city pay part, but the court underscored that the burden of complying is on the state.

The poll found support even among 62% of New York City residents for requiring the city to contribute more to meet the court recommendation. As a last resort, the poll found that half of New Yorkers support cutting state funding to wealthier schools to help poorer ones.

The poll finds most New Yorkers opposed to using gambling to increase school aid, which Pataki is proposing, and said that if any taxes need to be raised, sales tax should be tried first.

The state provides $15.4 billion in school aid to all 700 districts statewide. Of that, New York City schools get about $5.85 billion.

“I just hope the politicians throughout the state get the message,” said Michael Rebell of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity that won the lawsuit and continues to push for an infusion of school aid statewide.

The telephone poll of 1,186 registered voters was conducted December 3-6 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.