I offer this as the “feel good” story of the week.

Rebecca Friedrichs figures 30 years is long enough when it comes to paying her dues.

A fourth-grade teacher in Anaheim public schools, Friedrichs has long had problems with the way the California Teachers Association spends the union dues it takes in and the way it goes about collecting the money from the rank and file. Now she and nine other teachers from around the state are fighting back. The 10 public school teachers allege in a lawsuit that the CTA, the largest affiliate of the National Education Association, has no right to spend the rank-and-file’s money on political campaigns with which members disagree.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Friedrichs told FoxNews.com. “I’ve begrudgingly paid union fees for years.”

In the case, currently before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Friedrichs and the other teachers say the union forces them to participate in collective bargaining, pressures teachers to campaign for selected political candidates and unlawfully collects dues.

“It’s more than just the fees,” Friedrichs said. “I’m bothered with the ins and outs of collective bargaining. Everything they [the CTA] do is political.”

Under California state law, a union that is recognized as the exclusive bargaining representative for a school district, such as the CTA, can enter into an organizational security or “agency-shop” agreement which, in lay terms, means that while it is not mandatory for a teacher in the district to become a member of the local union, they must pay fees to the union for it to negotiate on their behalf. The rule is a condition of employment for all teachers.

Friedrichs alleges that CTA members and non-members alike pay the full annual dues, which total around $1,000, with non-members only able to request reimbursement of the portion deemed separate from bargaining expenses. The CTA does little to make sure they are aware of how much money they should be paid back.

“They make it very hard for (a) teacher to find out how to get their money back,” she said. “My husband, who is also a teacher, paid for 30 years and thought he was paying only the bargaining fees. He was never told what refunds he was entitled to. He was never able to get that money back.”