Everything I’ve read from Fernandez’s campaign suggests to me that she “gets” homeschooling. She doesn’t confuse homeschooling with virtual charter schools, and has pledged to leave our homeschooling laws as they are. Her opponent was actively involved in the suit against virtual charter schools, and has accused Fernandez of having “a homeschool agenda”.

I understand that many politically-connected homeschoolers dislike and distrust the virtual charter school movement. However my experience is that virtual charter schools can fill an important need for families for whom homeschooling is a bad fit. In the same way that homeschooling does not prevent me from supporting the existence of good brick and mortar public schools, it doesn’t prevent me from supporting good virtual public schools.

FWIW, I don’t consider WPA to be a grassroots organization, although it may have begun that way. I have been a member, and it seems to be very much a top-down organization that is not particularly interested in the opinions of its members.