(AP) — Louisiana’s top education board recommended a nearly $3.4 billion spending plan Wednesday for public school districts next year, $72 million more than the funding proposed in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s budget.Jindal suggested keeping the funding formula for the state’s 70 school districts flat for the 2010-11 fiscal year.In a 6-5 vote Wednesday, a committee of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education instead backed a formula with a 2.75 percent boost for each public school student, the type of annual increase the school districts had received for years before the state’s budget tightened.”We all know education in Louisiana is underfunded,” said board member Louella Givens, of New Orleans, as she supported the increase.Debate over the complex funding formula, called the Minimum Foundation Program or MFP, now shifts to state lawmakers as part of their budget debate when they meet in a regular session that starts March 29.If legislators want to fund BESE’s request, they’ll have to cut other agencies already poised to take budget cuts — or they’ll have to find a new source of cash to cover the $72 million. If lawmakers reject the proposal, that would send BESE back to the drawing board.State lawmakers can only approve or reject the funding formula submitted by the state board. They cannot change it.Supporters of the increase — including school superintendents and teacher union leaders — said school districts face hefty retirement cost hikes and the possible loss of state dollars that have paid for teacher stipends and transportation costs.—–Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]