In fact, public school quality seems to be one of the biggest contributing factors to a home's price. And good / bad public schools seem to be dotted randomly across the Bay Area, so you have this weird effect where houses prices right across the street from each other could vary widely based on which school district it's in.

Take Castro Valley in the East Bay. Highly rated public schools. Your kid will get pretty good schooling there, but you need to fork over 900K for a little 4 bedroom split level. A few blocks over, you see the same house for the bargain basement price of $600K, but lo and behold, you're in Hayward, where you're going to need to send your kid to school wearing a bullet-proof vest.