After pontificating for nearly 12 hours, the Florida House at 2:30 this morning finalized approval of a sweeping package of public school changes that could eventually reach every student and teacher in the state.

The divided House ultimately sent to Gov. Charlie Crist a quartet of bills that could prove to be the most significant education changes passed out of the state legislature in a decade.

The proposals would change the way teachers’ contracts and raises are negotiated, make class sizes larger, high school graduation tougher and send more state money to private schools.

The chamber finished with the most controversial measure of all – SB 6 – that would tie teacher pay and job security with how well students perform on tests. Angry teachers, parents and students overwhelmed lawmakers with telephone calls and e-mails objecting to the bill. House Speaker Larry Cretul forbade Democrats from reading any of the e-mails during debate on the bill that ran on until 2:30 this morning.

Read the full story here.

Democrats don’t have the votes to defeat the controversial teacher pay bill. But they do have 15 minutes each to speak, under House rules.

That suddenly questionable rule has resulted in a late night in the chamber, which, at this point (especially since my video camera unfortunately died hours ago), demands a running diary…

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That’s the take from Republican Rep. Faye Culp, a former teacher from Tampa who is about to complete her 12th year in the legisalture. Culp opposes a proposal up for a vote tonight to base teacher raises on student performance. Culp says teachers should also get raises for earning advanced degrees.

CULP: It takes a lot of nerve to go up against leadership right now.

More than in previous years?

CULP: Probably. There’s just an awful lot of pressure from senators over there [motions to Senate side of building] and the leadership in the House to get this bill passed. But there’s a lot of pressure from people all over the state to not pass it. So, we’ll see. I don’t know what the final vote will be. There are several of us who are going to stick together and vote ‘No’ on it.

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, is getting some fund-raising help from former U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, the Democrat who lost his seat in 2008 after admitting to “multiple” extramarital affairs.

Asked about it today, Hastings said, “I’m not involved in Tim Mahoney’s personal business any more than I’m involved in Tiger Woods’ personal business. But I’m going to watch Tiger Woods play golf….If Tim Mahoney and Tiger Woods want to help me, that’s fine.”

Half of the Florida House Democratic caucus joined the Republican majority to give final approval to a measure that lifts the restraints on a school voucher program that pays for poor students to attend private school.

The 95-23 vote also split the Palm Beach County Democrats.

Voting yes: Abruzzo, Bernard, Sachs

Voting no: Brandenburg, Pafford, Rader, Skidmore

A House committee killed one of Sen. Joe Negron’s priority bills on a tie vote this afternoon after using a procedural maneuver to keep opponents of the measure from speaking against it.

The measure (HB 1227, SB 1216) would have made the state’s 8 children’s services boards be re-authorized by voters every six years. County commissions can now put the boards, which have taxing authority, on the referendum whenever they want.

Negron sponsored the bill because because he’s miffed about the Martin County Children’s Services Council, which was planning to spend millions on new headquarters in his Stuart hometown.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons was among opponents of the measure who traveled to Tallahassee to testify against it.

They didn’t get to say a word.

With the end of the House Military and Local Affairs Policy Committee meeting nearing, member Chris Dorworth used a procedural maneuver to limit debate on the issue to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, and one opponent who sits on the committee.

Two Republicans joined Democrats to kill the measure on a 7-7 vote.

Florida House lawmakers just approved a measure for the November statewide ballot that asks voters to loosen the state’s strict class size caps.

The proposed constitutional amendment needs 60 percent support from voters. It won 62 percent from the House (77-41) and 68 percent from the Senate (26-12).

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A couple of scenes to consider as the House prepares to vote on major education changes this afternoon:

Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, catches an elevator Wednesday morning on the way into his Capitol office and, as chance would have it, he’s joined by Gov. Charlie Crist’s right-hand-man, chief of staff Shane Strum.

The two share some small talk, joke it feels like the last week of session it’s so busy . Then Strum offers a reminder to Atwater that, “We’re comfortable with Senate Bill 6.”

“I didn’t probe for it, so I was surprised he raised it,” Atwater said later. “I just, ‘Thank you.’ And got off the elevator. I haven’t heard anything different.”

A few hours later, Crist told reporters that he had concerns about the bill after “listening to the people.”

Different scene, next day, same merit-pay issue.

House Majority Leader Adam Hasner asked his staff director to check the political blogs this afternoon. Moments later, his director fires a baseball into a couch and Hasner races out of the office.

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Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink’s campaign manager Paul Dunn is gone and Emily’s List strategist Shellie Levin is on board as deputy manager for Sink’s Democratic gubernatorial campaign.

Sink’s campaign didn’t announce the changes but offered this statement on the changes.

“Under the direction of Sink for Governor Chief of Staff Jim Cassady, the campaign is pleased to announce that respected Florida strategist Shellie Levin has joined the campaign as deputy campaign manager. Levin, a longtime Miami resident, most recently served as EMILY’s List Majority Council Director for the Southeast U.S. and will help the campaign continue to reach out to Floridians up and down the state to share Alex’s vision for the future of Florida. The campaign also is announcing today that Paul Dunn will be leaving the campaign, and we wish him continued success in his future endeavors.”

Sink’s staff changes brought a swift response from the state GOP.

“After six months of lackluster fundraising, it’s no wonder that Alex Sink decided to shake up her stagnant campaign,” Republican Party of Florida Executive Director Ronnie Whitaker said in a statement. “What is surprising is that Sink decided to hire a former senior staffer from a pro-abortion group, after previously refusing to disclose how much funding she received from that same group, or even simply listing their support on her campaign web site.”

Senate GOP leaders are still steamed over Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto of a campaign finance bill (HB 1207) would have allowed legislative leaders to have fundraising accounts separate from those of the state parties.

Lawmakers outlawed the “leadership funds” more than two decades ago, and Crist in his veto letter wrote that they “allowed legislative leaders to solicit and accept campaign contributions during the legislative session from lobbyists and interest groups outside of the public view.”

An outraged Senate President-Designate Mike Haridopolos blasted Crist yesterday for not reading the bill and today Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, never a big fan of Crist’s to begin with, said the governor’s comments were inaccurate. Lawmakers are prohibited from raising campaign money during the legislative session but the governor is not. And Crist has kept busy fundraising for his U.S. Senate primary against former House Speaker Marco Rubio throughout the legislative session that began more than five weeks ago.

“So that seems a bit hypocritical to have some of the complaints that he raised in his veto when I believe the bill, although it may not go as far as some would like, could have provided more transparency on fundraising for House and Senate leaders in the party than we’ve had,” said Alexander, R-Lake Wales. “But he’s the governor and that’s his prerogative.”

Crist on Wednesday defended his veto. “I just think it was the right thing to do,” Crist said. “Given the current climate, dealing with those slush funds, the last thing we should do is put the stamp of approval on them. So we vetoed them.”

Haridopolos got even more riled at Crist’s characterization of the “slush funds” and had this to say on Thursday: “You can’t say you shouldn’t be fundraising during session when you’re doing it yourself and you have the extended veto period. I mean, if you want to go completely clean, that’s great. But you can’t say it’s okay if you do it and it’s not okay if we do it.”

It should come as no surprise that one of the most popular Republican governors in modern Florida history is enjoying another successful legislative session.

No, not Charlie Crist.

Jeb Bush.

“Unfortunately, this is turning out to be Gov. Bush’s best legislative session ever,” state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, said. “Many of the right-wing initiatives that eluded him as governor are finding momentum in his absence.”

Story here.

Former House Rep. Sharon Merchant, locked in a Republican state Senate primary with Lizbeth Benacquisto, is shopping an op-ed piece in which she urges Gov. Charlie Crist to veto the controversial plan that would eliminate teacher tenure and use student performance to determine pay raises.

Merchant’s position is noteworthy in that it sets her apart from the Republican majority in Tallahassee, including Senate President Jeff Atwater, who is driving the bill and who has supported Benacquito’s campaign.

Merchant writes (full piece after the jump):

As a conservative, I find it troubling that our party would lock out of the debate those most affected by this legislation. As a conservative, I am troubled by the fiscal irresponsibility of this legislation. As a conservative, I am troubled by the fundamental unfairness of this legislation.

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Sarah Palin’s use of crosshairs to target Democratic House incumbents is dangerous symbolism, Democrats say. But a party spokesman says it’s “a stretch” to compare Palin’s imagery to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s use of red and white bullseyes last year to target Republican incumbents.

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If you want to declare war on the legislature, there might be no better way than to call lawmakers back to Tallahassee in the scalding hot summer before a huge election.

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who continues to promote his independent streak (the anti-establishment kind that tea partiers love, not no-party-affiliation kind that Marco Rubio suggests), is raising the possibility of a special session this summer to implement changes from the public corruption grand jury he called for last year.

“It’s certainly not out of the question,” Crist said.

“The concern about the possibility of a special session is real,” he said. “Clearly there is a problem, particular in South Florida. I’ve had to remove over 30 public officials or replace them or suspend them as a result of this culture of corruption that exists. And something needs to be done to fix it.”

The video is from Gov. Charlie Crist’s press conference this morning. Some background here, here and here.

The Senate honored Lauren Book-Lim this morning, the daughter of powerful lobbyist Ron Book and a childhood sexual abuse survivor.

Book-Lim is trying to raise awareness about child molestation on a 500-mile walk from the Aventura home where her sexual molestation at the hands of her nanny began at age 10 and lasted until she was 17 to the Florida Capitol.

The Senate played a video of the 25-year-old Book-Lim talking about her non-profit organizaiton, Lauren’s Kids, as the usually brash Book, joined by his family, tearfully looked on from the public gallery.

The Books got kudos from Senate President Jeff Atwater and some of his colleagues, including Larcenia Bullard, a Miami Democrat who shared in the past that she was sexually molested by her father.

“I stand as one who has had that experience and I stand for others who have been afraid to speak out. I pray for Lauren that she will really complete her jouyrney because her journey has just begun. What she’s doing by speaking out, she’s helping so many others come to a point where they too will feel better about themselves,” Bullard said.

Since learning about his daughter’s abuse, Book has lobbied for harsher penalties for child molesters and has spoken strongly in favor of an effort to do away with the statute of limitations on child sex abusers, a proposal the Catholic Church has opposed for years and continues to fight.

Read related story: Sexual abuse survivor, activist starts 500-mile trek

A decades-old scandal in which a Wisconsin priest is accused of molesting more than 200 deaf boys could be the saving grace for a proposed change to Florida law that the Catholic Church has fought for six years and is still fighting.

State law gives victims of certain sex offenses, including “non-forcible rape” of children age 12 and older, until they are 21 to press charges. Lawsuits must be filed before the victim reaches age 26.

Under Florida law, Wisconsin priest Lawrence C. Murphy, who died in 1999 after admitting he abused boys in his care at a school for the deaf and blind, could not be charged with the crimes if he were still alive and neither could the religious institution that allowed the molestation to continue.

For the first time in six years, proposals in the House and Senate that would do away with the statutes of limitations have a chance of passing.

The measure has drawn the attention of Marc Klaas, the father of Polly Klaas, a 12-year-old California girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1993.

Klaas wrote to senators asking them to support SB 870, HB 525 so that victims of the horrific crimes can get justice.

“I understand that the Catholic Church has been one of the primary opponents to this legislation over the years. The fact that the Catholic Church is embroiled in yet another pedophile Priest sex scandal that reaches into the Vatican itself should diminish the power of their opposition as well as explain their virulent opposition to SB 870/HB 525,” Klaas wrote in an e-mail.

Read the full story here.

If you’re looking for a big name to add to the 2011 West Palm Beach mayoral race, look no further than Mark Foley.

On Wednesday, Foley confirmed that friends and colleagues have gauged his interest in the wide-open mayoral race that so far has just two official candidates in Commissioners Jeri Muoio and Molly Douglas.

More here.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will be in Palm Beach County on Friday to raise money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at some private events, a Pelosi spokesman said.

Pelosi’s office isn’t publicizing where she’ll be. The FBI today arrested a man for making threatening phone calls to Pelosi over the recently passed health care overhaul bill.

Pelosi is expected to raise money for the DCCC and not for specific candidates. While there’s a special congressional election in Palm Beach and Broward counties next week to replace U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, Dems are more concerned about upcoming special elections in Hawaii and Pennsylvania.

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist has signaled his support of the controversial overhaul of teacher salaries, but said today he’s having second thoughts.

“There are parts of it, certainly, that I support,” Crist told reporters. “I like the accountability part of it, but we always continue to review these things.”

Crist said he talked with a friend over the weekend who has a special-needs son and is now concerned about how special needs teachers would be reviewed under the bill.

“I had a conversation with a friend of many years this weekend, who has a significantly handicapped child and was concerned about provisions of the bill that require progress,” Crist said. “And he’s like, ‘How can my son have progress?’ It’s very challenging. So it’s weighing on me heavily.”