While Gov. John Baldacci has set his sights on reducing local school administration costs by drastically reducing the number of school districts, analysts and some legislators are asking why he hasn’t tackled cuts in state government.

Backers of the Brookings Institution report on Maine’s future prosperity, which the governor has called a “road map” for change, questioned why all the focus has been on school district cuts.

“I think we’re a little disappointed that more hasn’t been done on state government,” said Alan Caron, the head of GrowSmart Maine, which commissioned the study done by the Brookings Institution, a nationally known think tank.

While the report calls K-12 education in Maine the “800-pound-gorrila” of state and local spending and estimates that $151 million could be saved if Maine spent at the national average, it also calls for savings of $60 to $100 million in state government.

Some of the areas the report says should be reviewed range from the $24 million spent each year to support legislative functions at the Statehouse to the $146 million corrections budget in a state with the lowest inmate population per capita in the country.

“The report was very clear that state government needs to be streamlined and the $60 to $100 million does not include K-12,” Caron told a conference room packed with legislators last week.

One of those legislators, Sen. John Nutting, D-Androscoggin County, agreed, saying, “There are a number of cuts in K-12, but we’re not finding any cuts proposed in state government.”

Baldacci’s budget calls for reducing the current 290 school districts and local school committees in the state to 26. It does not, however, call for any dramatic overhaul of state government and the state employee head count actually appears to go up, not down, in his plan.

The Brookings report supports the creation of a “BRAC-like” commission, similar to the process used in the Base Realignment and Closure process to find 2 to 3.5 percent cuts in state government to reinvest in economic development and help lower the tax burden.

It says the commission should be made up of 12 “independent-minded” private citizens appointed by the governor and leaders from both parties. The group would be given a research budget and time frame to come up with proposed cuts.

But Sen. Libby Mitchell, the Senate majority leader from Kennebec County, said the Brookings report was making the cuts sound too simple.

“I’m increasingly concerned about facile numbers and that a BRAC-like commission can solve all our problems, Mitchell said, cautioning, “don’t throw out $60, $70 or $100 million cuts without documentation.”

According to a report done by Philip Trostel, a University of Maine professor whose analysis contributed to the Brookings Institution report, several areas of state government appear ripe for further investigation because of how much they cost in comparison to other states. The list includes:

• The administration of higher education, where for every $1 going to instructional payroll in Maine, $2.13 goes to “other” payroll to support 14 separate universities and community colleges.

• A corrections system that serves a state with the smallest number of prisoners per capita in the county, yet spends $62,200 per inmate annually, the second highest cost per prisoner in the nation. If Maine had the same cost per inmate as the national average, it could save $79 million annually.

• Legislative costs, including research and support staff that report to legislators, that are the third highest in the nation as a percentage of personal income in the state. If Maine spent like other rural states, it could save $12 million annually.

• Maine’s public health expenditures, excluding hospitals, that the second highest in the country relative to the state’s income. Public health includes a wide range of functions from health education, immunization and drug and alcohol abuse programs. Both the state and local government administer programs in this area.

• Spending on public buildings, including their construction, maintenance and operation, that far exceeds national averages and spending in other rural states as a percentage of personal income. If Maine spent at the national average, the state could save $42 million annually or close to half of the public buildings budget.

“Change is going to happen. It’s going to happen intentionally or intelligently or it’s going to happen through something like TABOR,” said Caron, referring to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights spending and tax cap initiative that failed at the polls in November in a 54 percent-46 percent vote.