How to cut your NJ teacher's union dues in half.

First of all, I am not your advisor.  You are a professional adult.  I am going to tell you how I do this, but if you choose to follow my path, you take all of the risk on your own shoulders. 

Every year, I pay just under 43% of the total union dues that a full NJEA member pays.  I am still covered by the employment contract, and I enjoy all of the same rights as a full member, except that I cannot vote in ANY union elections (including union officers, contracts, etc.).  I am a "representation fee" payer.

Here's how it works:

1. You must terminate your NJEA-NEA Active Membership.  There are two deadlines for doing this: January 1 or July 1 of any year.  Send a letter to the NJEA telling them to terminate your membership effective one of those two dates.  You might also copy that letter to the payroll department of your district, just to cover your bases (the payroll department takes the union dues out of your paycheck).
2. Once you have terminated your membership in the union, the district will start taking out the representation fee from your paycheck (starting in January, I think), which can be as much as 85% of the regular union dues.  You already started paying less!  But wait, there's more.
3. In January of the year following the year that you started paying the representation fee, you will receive a large envelope of papers from the NJEA.  It is an accounting statement of all union expenses at the national, state, county, and local levels.  The part that you should be interested in is known as the "Demand and Return System" (see NJSA 34:13A–5.6).  This is how you can recover about half of the 85% of the dues you paid out as a representation fee.
4. In short, before the mid-February deadline, you send a short, generic letter to the NJEA objecting to paying the full representation fee (don't provide any specific reasons).  Be careful to follow the instructions about what to include in the letter (your employer, your social security #, the name of the local union, etc.).  Send that letter and wait. 
5. You will eventually receive a packet from the arbitration company with a court date where you can make your case.  I have never had to go to the arbitration meeting.  Sometime before that court date (sometimes only a week ahead), an attorney for the NJEA calls you looking to make a deal.   See what he/she offers you.  A typical settlement amount is about half your representation fee returned to you.  Whatever the offer, ask them to put it in writing and to email it to you.  Sign it and email it back.  You will receive a refund check shortly.
6. Do it all again next year.

So, in a nutshell, you pay 15% less in union dues during the school year.  In the spring, you make a deal for return of a portion of the amount you did pay.  If you get half back, you paid about 43% of what every union member pays.  My union dues for the 2013 fiscal year were under $380. 

How much did you pay to a union that doesn't represent your interests?