They want to help the kids. But upsetting people might create controversy. It might produce a grievance. It might lose an election. It might cause a strike.
Competition forces administrators to take the initiative.
If they don't shake things up, their districts and schools will shrink. They will have to lay teachers off. Angry voters may overthrow school boards, angry boards may fire superintendents, and angry superintendents may even fire principals. Consider what has happened in Massachusetts, where David J. Armor and Brett M. Peiser studied the impact of interdistrict choice for the Pioneer Institute. They conducted detailed surveys and interviews in nine of the ten school districts that had seen the most students leave for other districts.