You forgot "...in other parts of the country." The "great" schools in the Bay Area are pretty much exclusively in places with $1m+ house prices, and with few places to rent for a reasonable amount.
Also consider that the bubble primarily affected the distant 'burbs. House prices in San Francisco, and close in to the city, didn't really drop appreciably at all, and have now regained any losses. So either the "pop" was delayed (and another one is still coming, as you suggest), or there wasn't a "bubble" in SF at all. Not to say that I think it's sane to pay those prices, but I don't live the Bay Area any more for that exact reason.
There are those of us who really want to own a house just so that we can change it however we like. There's something smothering about living in a rental when you've previously been free to do what you want. I know, first world problems, but still, home ownership means that I can't be kicked out (or priced out) on the whim of a landlord.
And leaving the Bay Area is one way to achieve both. I've got better (for some measures of "better") public schools near me now than even exist in California any more, and yet I own my home (and paid only about $320k for it -- still not cheap, but much more reasonable). In my case (having bought and sold at good times in the Bay Area), I own the house outright, so living expenses are even lower than if I were renting, giving me the ability to pursue my own dream projects for more of the time.