Chris Butler is a homeschool dad, pastor, advocate, and experienced organization builder with over 25 years dedicated to public service at the intersection of faith and civic life. He and his amazing wife, Aziza, have six wonderful children. Chris has pastored at Ambassador Church (formerly Chicago Embassy Church Network) for nine years. He also serves as the director of Christian Civic Formation at the Center for Christianity and Public Life, where he leads efforts to equip Christians for thoughtful and transformative engagement in the public square, creating resources and spaces that encourage spiritual and civic formation for the common good. Chris is a strong supporter of homeschooling freedom and parental rights, and his 2022 primary campaign, in which he ran from Chicago’s South Side as a pro-life Democrat for Illinois’s first congressional district, was endorsed by the HSLDA Action PAC. Chris holds a master's in theology from Northwest University and is a coauthor of Compassion (&) Conviction: The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement.

Mike Schutt has served students as a Worldview Academy faculty member since 2002. Before taking on Worldview Academy's executive director role, he served as a clinical associate professor at Trinity Law School and director of the Institute for Christian Legal Studies, a cooperative ministry of the Christian Legal Society (where he directed the Law Student Ministries) and Regent University School of Law. He also taught on the faculty of Regent Law for 20 years. Mike’s book, Redeeming Law: Christian Calling and the Legal Profession, is an exhortation to students and lawyers on Christian integrity in the law. He lives in Mount Pleasant, Texas, with his wife, Lisa. They have three grown children and six grandchildren. Before entering academia, Mike practiced law in Fort Worth. He is an honors graduate of the University of Texas School of Law.

Since joining HSLDA to lead the litigation team in 2001, Jim Mason has represented homeschooling families in a wide range of challenging situations and has set precedents that have expanded freedom for the homeschool community. Under Jim’s leadership, HSLDA’s 4th Amendment litigation work has changed the way three states (North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico) approach social services investigations. In Wilson v Russo, HSLDA won a $700,000 settlement for our client, a single parent whose children were seized by a rogue child protective services investigator. Jim was instrumental in litigating the 2008 California case Jonathan L., in which a state appellate court reversed its previous ruling that homeschooling was illegal. This put an end to years of controversy over the legal status of homeschooling in California and set a precedent that affects other states as well. Jim became the president of HSLDA in 2022 after serving as vice president of litigation and development for seven years. He also serves as the chairman of ParentalRightsFoundation.org. He and his wife Debbie live in Winchester, Virginia. They have seven children and seven grandchildren. The Masons homeschooled all of their children through high school.

Darren Jones has worked at HSLDA since 1996, first as a legal assistant and then as an attorney in various capacities. He spends his time at the office: 20% talking to members in legal difficulties, persuading them that it’s not as bad as it could be and HSLDA has got their back; 60% advising homeschool group leaders about everything from crafting statements of faith (he prefers the Nicene Creed) to designing policies to protect children at co-ops; 10% writing legal briefs (and wondering how in the world documents of 30 pages can possibly be called “brief”); 10% keeping HSLDA and its sister organizations in compliance with the charitable solicitation laws of way too many competing jurisdictions; and 100% advocating for the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children. Darren and his wife, Sara, homeschool as a team and have graduated the oldest two of their four children. He enjoys board games, teaching Sunday school, and speaking at homeschool conferences around the country.