The trustees of the Kamehameha Schools today agreed to reduce their compensation by 10 percent after a state judge approved a 69 percent increase.

Citing sluggish economy in which the value of the trust's assets declined by more than $1.7 billion, board members of the $7.7 billion estate said they would not take increase in compensation until their financial conditions improves.

Earlier today, state Probate Judge Colleen Hirai approved a plan that will increase the maximum pay for the charitable trust's board members from $97,500 a year to $165,000 a year.

The board's chairman will be entitled to a maximum of $207,000 a year, which is a 72 percent increase from the current maximum of $120,000 a year.

The pay increase would have been the first for the trustees in about a decade.

The Kamehameha Schools is a charitable trust founded by the 1883 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop to educate children of native Hawaiian ancestry.