Many teachers have become disillusioned by the sudden change to the objectives of public education. They too often find themselves as victims of the “new ideology of indoctrination” sweeping public schools. Their 1st Amendment rights have been violated by administrations forcing them to teach children a “new religion” contrary to their own deeply held beliefs. The vast majority of teachers enter their profession because they love children and want to contribute to the formation of their education and help them become happy, healthy, contributing members of society. But the ideology invading public schools seeks to create lifelong victim activists, burdened with grievances. This is completely contrary to the motives of those hard-working and devoted individuals in the teaching profession.

Many are afraid to speak out against the “woke” agenda because they’ve seen the backlash against peers who have expressed their concerns. They have years of classroom service invested toward their retirement pensions and a career move would jeopardize long term financial security. Teachers, however, are far from powerless. Various organizations and public interest law firms are there to serve teachers and protect their rights. A great organization is Christian Educators: a professional organization that offers an alternative to the conventional teacher’s unions. Indeed, one very effective way teachers can help protect themselves and their students is to “DEFUND” the wealthy and powerful unions that financially support the woke agenda. Thanks to the 2018 landmark Supreme Court decision, Janus v. AFSCME, this is now possible and thousands of teachers across the nation have exited their unions!

In the Janus decision, the court ruled that forcing union members to pay dues is a violation of the 1st Amendment. This ruling overturned the 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. In anticipation of a possible defeat at the Supreme Court, teachers unions scrambled to design schemes to retain their lucrative dues paying members. They embarked on a campaign of misinformation and scare tactics to confuse teachers and intimidate them into renewing, rather than canceling their memberships. But thanks to one warrior in the fight, the truth is prevailing and setting many teachers free of union bondage.

In her lawsuit, Friedrichs v California Teachers’ Association, plaintiff Rebecca Friedrichs brought this issue to the national stage. Her goal was to free teachers from forced union membership. She fought this issue all the way to U.S. Supreme Court in 2016, paving the way for the 2018 Janus decision and victory for teachers across the country.

Friedrichs, teacher turned teacher advocate, now helps other educators exit the union and get the liability coverage they need, often at a reduced cost with better benefits. To find out more, please visit Friedrichs’ website, For Kids and Country and visit Union Exit to learn how teachers can escape the costly membership of a union that fails to represent their interests.

For teachers that believe their legal rights are being violated, please contact us directly through our Incident Reporting site.

Standing Up to Goliath, by Rebecca Friedrichs

Christian Educators, An organization that “supports, connects, and protects Christian educators.”

Association of American Educators, “The largest national, non-union, professional educators’ organization, advancing the profession by offering a modern approach to teacher representation and educational advocacy, as well as promoting professionalism, collaboration and excellence without a partisan agenda.”