First, thanks for being a quite reasonable commenter.
The guilt by association essentially means it seemed were implying that because I espoused certain views also espoused by a certain political party (i.e., my comment about disliking government interference in healthcare), I was thus espousing "fox-news-worthy neocon propaganda". I don't side with the GOP or Fox News on any sort of comprehensive basis, and I think there's plenty of reasonable discussion to be had on these issues, and there are reasonable thinkers on the other side of some of these issues, if you're willing to look past the unreasonable ones. There's crazy people on your side of the aisle, too.
Back to Pepsi/schools:
When I said the problem was with the schools themselves, I meant the idea of public education in the first place. I don't think I should be forced to send my child to a government institution to learn (this battle's been mostly won). I don't think I should have to pay for education for the rest (not even close). I think the idea of government having even the tiniest bit of control over education is abhorrent. Education needs to be independent of government the same way journalism needs to be independent of government - because it shapes the thoughts of the nation, and it is astoundingly foolish to give any control of thought to the organization whose only limit is the reasoned thoughts of its populace.
It was seen vividly recently, as the hyper-liberal NEA began to bring political pressure on the children of the nation to support a specific political party, all while in a near-mandatory system that is paid for by our tax dollars.
The alternative I would pose is literally any form of private education - both homeschooling and church schools have far longer and better track records than public education, which only stems back, in its modern, Prussian form, to the early 19th century.
So in other words, the Pepsi isn't really the issue there.