Will Estrada | Ep. 135

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About this Episode

What if education decisions were made closer to home? Zan welcomes back attorney Will Estrada to discuss the potential dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. Will traces the history of federal involvement in education from 1647 through today, sharing how test scores have declined despite monumental increases in federal spending. Together they explore how returning educational authority to the states would benefit all children, including those who are homeschooled. This conversation reminds us that the most effective education happens when parents—those who know and love their children best—have the freedom to direct the education of their children.

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• Parental Rights | Will Estrada | Ep. 019

Meet My Guest

Will Estrada began his legal career working for HSLDA in January 2004 as a legal assistant to HSLDA Senior Counsel Scott Woodruff. After graduating from Oak Brook College of Law and Government Policy with his Juris Doctor in 2006, he moved on to direct HSLDA’s Federal Relations department and serve as HSLDA’s federal lobbyist.

Will worked as a career federal employee in the Office for Civil Rights at the US Department of Health and Human Services from 2018 to 2021. In November of 2021, he resigned from the federal government and was selected by the Board of ParentalRights.org to serve as the first full-time president of ParentalRights.org and the Parental Rights Foundation.

In June of 2023, Will decided to return to his roots at HSLDA, this time serving as a senior counsel and contact attorney for HSLDA members in the states of California, Wyoming, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. He works to make homeschooling possible for thousands of member families and hundreds of thousands of homeschool students by advocating in state legislatures for homeschool freedom, working to ensure that homeschool graduates are treated equally, and that the laws protecting the rights of homeschool families are followed by government officials.

Will is a member of the following state and federal bars: U.S. Supreme Court, First Circuit Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, California, and District of Columbia. In June of 2023, Will was selected by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to serve a four-year term on the Board of Visitors of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.

Will and his wife, Rachel, have two sons, Dominic and Merrick, and live in Northern Virginia

HSLDA.ORG

Mentioned in this Episode

• HSLDA
• ParentalRights.org
• Old Deluder Satan Act (1647)
• QUOTE – Noah Webster (1828): “The United States commenced their existence under circumstances wholly novel and unexampled in the history of nations. They commenced with civilization, with learning, with science, with constitutions of free government, and that best gift of God to man, the Christian religion.”
• QUOTE – Matthew Henry (1706): “Parents give your children a Christian education.”
• Will’s law review: “Homeschooling in The United States: A Seismic Victory for Parental Rights” (Liberty University School of Law, August 2024)

Podcast Sponsor

At BJU Press Homeschool, we’re committed to providing children an education from a biblical worldview that is academically sound and challenges them to advance, think critically, and live like Christ. This type of education is not often possible in public schools because of the number of children taught in a classroom, a difference in worldview, and peer and societal pressure to conform. Homeschooling allows parents to instruct and disciple their children without daily fighting messages from an opposing worldview taught in the classroom. And with tuition costs and fees for private schooling or tutoring, homeschooling may be the only option for parents who are concerned for their children’s physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
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