When Jim Edgar is sworn in Jan. 14 as Illinois’ 38th governor, he will face a citizenry concerned that too little money is spent on education and too much is collected as taxes.

NIU researcher Ellen Dran reported last week that a new survey shows 24 percent of Illinois adults rank education as the state’s most serious problem, topping citizens’ concerns for the fourth year in a row.

Close behind, 22 percent rank taxes as the biggest problem, up 4 percent from last year to the highest level of concern expressed over taxes since NIU began conducting annual statewide opinion samplings in 1984.

Illegal drug use, ranked a year ago by 14 percent of Illinoisans as the state’s most serious problem, during a news media blitz on President George Bush’s war on drugs, now is rated the top problem by only 7 percent of those interviewed for NIU’s 1990 Illinois Policy Survey, Dran reports.

That moves drugs from third on the worry list last year to a current tie with concern over the economy for fourth place, as worry about unemployment has edged ahead, although remaining at the same comparitive level of concern expressed a year ago.

Cited by 9 percent as their top concern, the same as in 1989, jobless fears still are far below 1985, when 46 percent cited unemployment as the state’s top problem, Dran said.

Still, concern about the economy has moved up as the top concern cited by 7 percent, compared with 3 percent last year, but still well below the double-digit levels of concern recorded in statistical summaries for the first four of the previous six surveys by the NIU Center for Governmental Studies.

“The majority of citizens who are most concerned about education say the problem is underfunding,” said Dran, a research associate for the center.

n a related question asked of the 831 adults sampled around the state, 35 percent rated Illinois schools as excellent or good, 33 percent as fair, and 28 percent as poor or very poor.

“Not surprisingly, the main concern about taxes is that they are too high,” Dran said.

Many complained about the way their tax money is spent and the unfairness of the taxing system, which is seen by many as biased in favor of upper-income individuals.

“Despite opposition to higher taxes, most Illinois citizens are willing to maintain the temporary income tax increase imposed last year if it is earmarked for education,” Dran said.

“Although only 31 percent want to keep the increase without any qualifications, another 44 percent will accept it for education, bringing support to 75 percent.”

Dran said the survey results also indicated some taxes are disliked more than others, although 57 percent say Social Security and state income taxes seem “about right.”

Among those believed “too high” are federal income tax, by 54 percent, sales tax, by 56 percent and property taxes, by 65 percent, with 42 percent terming the latter “much too high.”

Collar county residents have the most negative responses to the property tax (57 percent much too high, 23 percent, somewhat too high), as only 18 percent of those in DuPage, Kane, Lake, Mc Henry and Will counties find 1990 property taxes “about right.”

That compares with majorities of 52 percent selecting “about right” for property taxes in northern and central Illinois, 33 percent in southern Illinois and 31 percent in Cook County, minus Chicago.

However, Dran said Chicagoans are nearly as unhappy. “Half the city’s residents find their property taxes much too high, and another 25 percent think they are somewhat too high.”

The 1990 Illinois Policy Survey was conducted from Sept. 19 to Oct. 19 through a random sample of 831 Illinois residents 18 or older.