AUGUSTA – The State Board of Education on Wednesday endorsed a recommended $734 million budget that is $9 million more than the Legislature approved last session but that still keeps funding at its present level.

The Legislature approved a $725 million budget that cuts $4 million from the current budget. As proposed by Susan Gendron, commissioner of the Maine Department of Education, the increase covers a $5 million rise in debt service and another $4 million to build the budget back up to the current $729 million.

Department officials said debt service rose to $60.7 million because of a 1999 law that allowed more communities to build schools. Now payments on school construction debt are coming due.

While K-8 enrollment fell by 2,300 students during the past year – the largest decline in memory – there has been no overall effect on the budget, since the loss is spread across the state and costs to local school systems haven’t decreased, according to officials. But education costs through 2010 may not grow as fast because of the loss in students, they said.

Since 1995, the state has lost 11,000 students – a 3.3 percent decline. During the next eight years, enrollment is projected to decline 9.5 percent, officials said.

Board members qualified their approval by stating that they “reluctantly” certified the funding level, and that they were aware the amount wasn’t adequate and that additional state funds were needed.

The proposed budget now proceeds to Gov. John Baldacci, who, pending his approval, will submit it to the Legislature as part of the supplemental budget.