ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The president of the Maryland Senate says Gov. Martin O'Malley has decided to shift some teacher pension costs to Maryland counties.

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Thomas V. Mike Miller, D-Calvert, said Tuesday that O'Malley has settled on an amount, but he said he will wait for O'Malley to announce the details. Miller says he would have preferred a larger shift than O'Malley, a Democrat, is proposing.

However, Miller says it's a positive step and a compromise.

For example, O'Malley already has announced plans to allocate more than $370 million in school construction money to help counties. A spokeswoman for O'Malley was not immediately available for comment.

Maryland is one of the few states in the nation where the state picks up the entire tab for teacher pensions, which cost about $1 billion a year.