AUGUSTA (AP) – Baldacci administration officials on Thursday outlined a combined package of spending and savings worth $178 million that is designed to adjust planned expenditures over the last half of the two-year budget cycle.

In doing so, lawmakers will be able to draw on $164 million in new revenue resulting from an updated forecast of expected tax collections.

The Baldacci package would provide $42 million in additional funding for public education, while setting aside $35 million in the state budget stabilization fund.

Officials said another $23 million was proposed for offsetting federal funding reductions relating to prescription drug coverage, with $5 million more also going to bolster benefits.

Legislative hearings on the governor’s package for the remainder of fiscal 2006 and the entirety of fiscal 2007 are slated to begin on Jan. 30 and run through Feb. 9.

The Appropriations Committee will conduct the hearings in conjunction with various panels that oversee individual policy areas.

Plans call for the committees of jurisdiction to hold subsequent work sessions with agency officials and to report back to the Appropriations panel in mid-February.

Administration officials said Thursday the supplemental budget package would cut 134 state positions, bringing the total number of job eliminations since 2002 to 628.

A $35 million transfer to a state savings account would bring reserves to more than $100 million, up from zero three years ago, officials said.

Much of the emphasis in the administration’s presentation Thursday echoed points made by Baldacci himself the night before in his State of the State address.

A number of elements had already been outlined, including a proposed restoration of funding that is not expected to be provided by the federal government for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Lawmakers from both major parties have been staking out positions on various policy issues in recent days, and outside groups have also been weighing in.

In advance of Baldacci’s televised address on Wednesday night, the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center issued a call for fiscal prudence and recommended that half of the state’s projected budget surplus be returned to taxpayers and half set aside as budget reserves.

The Maine College Republicans, meanwhile, issued a statement Thursday panning the governor’s speech.