This is a limited way of thinking about public schools. Just because some children choose to leave for a different environment doesn’t mean the students who don’t are “left behind” or “trapped.” Many of our public schools are a great fit for a lot of kids.
There’s little research that supports the allegation that school choice harms students who stay in their public schools. In fact, those students tend to experience small gains on test scores. Of the 28 studies that examine the competitive effects of school choice programs on public schools, 25 found positive effects, one saw no visible effect and two found some negative effects for some kids.
School choice programs may influence how public schools choose to operate, but the body of evidence proves that by and large, they help, not hurt, our most important stakeholders in education: the kids.
For a fully cited list of studies, visit our school choice research bibliography page.