House members wrangled for hours Wednesday before the powerful Republican majority drove through legislation revamping how Florida teachers are paid, defying union officials who now may renew their fight in court.

The 80-39 vote divided strictly along party lines — with Democrats on the losing end.

“This is unquestionably a footprint in the sand moment,” said House sponsor Erik Fresen, R-Miami. “You will regret this 20 years from now if you vote against it.”

But Democrats argued fiercely against the measure (CS/SB 736) which now goes to Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who is expected to sign it into law.

Democrats blistered the proposal for outlining a merit-pay plan for teachers, but not providing any money for the new system. They also warned that with student performance key to teacher salaries, county school boards will have to divert dwindling school dollars toward more testing.

“This is the mother of all unfunded mandates,” said Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando.

The Florida House is poised today to approve legislation ending tenure and tying teacher pay to how much students improve in their classes.

The bill also will be chalked up as a major victory for ruling Republican lawmakers over the state teachers’ union, which has been a huge supplier of campaign cash and activists to Democratic political campaigns.

Democrats, outnumbered more than two-to-one in the House, have been pushing back, and a vote isn’t expected until early evening. House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, already having set aside six hours for debate on the measure.

Above is the television ad from the Florida Education Association thanking Gov. Charlie Crist for vetoing the controversial teacher tenure bill last week. It sounds like this version is on the air in the Tallahassee market and something similar will be up soon across the state.

Meanwhile, we were leaked part of a recent poll from Hamilton Campaigns that asked 700 likely Florida voters these questions:

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Sen. Alex Villalobos, the Republican Rules Committee chairman, joined a slew of Democratic lawmakers urging Gov. Charlie Crist to veto the contentious teacher pay bill.

But Villalobos used a different tack to persuade the governor, who has until midnight Friday to act on the measure (SB 6): it’s a “constitutional mess.”

Villalobos argued in a letter to Crist sent Tuesday that the bill that virtually eliminates job security for teachers and bases their salary increases on how well their students perform on standardized tests poses a host of potential constitutional problems.

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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.