Will Estrada is senior counsel with Home School Legal Defense Association. He is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Bar First Circuit Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, California and District of Columbia. Will himself is a homeschool graduate. In Illinois, thousands of homeschoolers arrived at the capitol in Springfield on March 19th to voice opposition to House Bill 2827. This bill would make it a crime to turn in homeschool paperwork late. It would also allow unelected bureaucrats to promulgate freedom-restricting regulations that would affect homeschoolers and private schools alike. Officials had to close the capitol after an estimated 8,000 people had been admitted, while hundreds more rallied outside. On the legislature's website, almost 50,000 people filed witness slips in opposition. Another 400 filed in favor of the bill. The 1950 Illinois Supreme Court case called, People v. Levisen, established that parents could educate their children at home with certain restrictions. These included teaching required subjects and if the family was challenged, the burden of proof was on the family to provide evidence. This has worked well for 75 years. Last year some opponents did a "hit piece" on homeschooling claiming that it is a shield for abuse and neglect. Right after that, Will noted that the sponsor, Illinois State Representative Terra Costa Howard, was quoted as saying, "We need to go after homeschoolers." As you'll hear, this is not a simple misunderstanding over a registration form. This involves an annual, mandatory filing that includes criminal penalties such as jail time under this legislation.