“I felt like my feet did not hit the ground for weeks,” California teacher Lisa Disbrow said as she recalled the freedom and joy that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME brought to her this summer. The Court struck down forced union fees because it found them to violate workers’ First Amendment rights.

After the Janus decision, Lisa went to OptOutToday.com, a project of the Freedom Foundation, and printed a customized opt-out letter. She sent it to her union, the California Teachers Association, to resign her membership. She noted, “I walked off the union playing field and will never again feel remorse for funding decisions I find offensive.”

It means everything to Lisa to be able to teach without being forced to fund ideologies that she disagrees with. She declared, “I have waited almost 4 decades to be legally recognized as an individual with my own mind, my own voice and my own values.”

Lisa chose to be a teacher to help her community but the union’s constant messaging and support for political causes that are offensive to her was an unwanted distraction. She noted, “I chose teaching as my career and my contribution to society, not my political party.”

Now Lisa can focus on investing in her students without being forced to fund ideologies that she disagrees with.

Lisa added, “Thank you to all those at Freedom Foundation for securing employees’ rights to free speech and free association. And thank you to all those Foundation supporters. I feel like you’re my liberators.”