People do what is the best interest of their kids. When you look at how most public HS principals and ADs treat T&F a parent would be wise to get their T&F minded child to a school with a solid T&F program.
Just in our county there are 4 HSs, two of them have actual full on track teams, with well organized practices, meet schedules, and a history of athletes succeeding. Two of them run the bare minimum of meets (mostly all within the county) barely work out and only field a few events per meet.
The only different between these schools are the coaches hired. Access and demographics are pretty much identical.