Governor Andrew Cuomo has entered his own bill on the city's policy on teacher layoffs that will consider performance and seniority, as the state Assembly is stalling a bill passed by the state Senate Tuesday that will determine teacher layoffs by performance alone.

The policy at question is the so-called "last in, first out" rule that requires the city to lay off the newest teachers first.

Shortly before 6 p.m., minutes after the state Senate passed by a 33-27 vote a bill that would have teachers layoffs based solely on performance, Cuomo announced his own bill for an evaluation system for tenure and layoffs that incorporates both teachers' performance and seniority.

"We need to put students first by keeping the best educators in the classroom, whether they have worked for one year or 25 years. While seniority should be part of the equation, it cannot be the only factor when making important employment decisions in our schools," said Cuomo in a statement. "Entrenched interests that benefit from the status quo will portray this as an assault, but the reality is we want to work with teachers to support New York's students."

Cuomo's proposed system, which would be in place for the new school year in September, would rate teachers as "highly effective," "effective," "developing" or "ineffective."

The teachers and principals who were determined to be "ineffective" would undergo a hearing process to see whether they would be fired.

Speaking at the Museum of Modern Art Tuesday night, the mayor praised the state Senate while saying he did not know enough about the governor's newly-proposed legislation.

"I have not seen the details but the bottom line is we need legislation that allows us to lay off teachers this year using merit and that’s the legislation that the governor should put in the budget and anything else does not help us now," Bloomberg said.

City Hall sources were much more critical of the governor, saying he gave the mayor no advance warning of his teacher tenure announcement.

They also say that they have seen no actual piece of legislation.

At a meeting of the city's Panel for Educational Policy Tuesday night, teachers who spoke with NY1 were divided on the issue.

"Both segments need that job protection, but I think it does make better sense that the older ones that have been long in the system get to enjoy that protection further," said one teacher.

"I'm a relatively new teacher. I've only been in the system four years. LIFO would directly affect me. I have been told by everyone I work for, by my administrators, by my colleague, and by parents of my students that I am an effective teacher. LIFO would take me out, okay? So I have a vested interest in saying that LIFO is not the way to go," said another.

The senate's bill, which also passed the Senate's Education Committee and Rules Committee earlier in the day, is strongly opposed by the teachers' union.

The leader of the New York State Assembly has already said the body will not be voting on the Senate's bill.

Instead, Democrat Sheldon Silver said his chamber wants the state Board of Regents to create a teacher evaluation system to help decide who should be laid off come September.

The Department of Education released a list over the weekend detailing teacher layoffs at each city school if the state Legislature does not change the "last in, first out" law.

The teachers' union -- which came out against the bill favored by the mayor -- is cautiously backing the governor's proposal, although it says it hasn't reviewed it in depth.