Haverhill's schools are losing the war of choice. More students are leaving the local district to attend others in the region than are coming in.

But school officials deserve credit for their efforts to go to the source — parents who are choosing to send their children elsewhere — to find out why instead of simply demanding more money.

That, if it is accompanied by a constructive response to what they learn, will offer the best chance of reversing an alarming, and costly, trend.

Haverhill has never had a net gain of students under the School Choice Law. But during the current decade, things have gotten worse instead of better. In 2002, the district had a net loss of only 26 students. The loss peaked in 2005, at 110, and things have improved since then, but not by much. This year it was still at 92, which results in a net financial loss of around $500,000, since $5,500 in state education money follows students when they move to another system.

That has prompted school officials to send a survey to the parents of more than 100 children who recently left the district, asking where the students are now attending school and why they chose to leave Haverhill.

In some cases, it is a matter of perception. Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan said one mother told him she pulled her child out of the high school because she felt it was not safe.

"That really bothered me," Buchanan told reporter Shawn Regan, "because perception isn't always reality."

That may be true, but anybody in government should know that in many cases, fair or not, perception amounts to reality. If the perception is not the reality, it is up to those in charge of the district to change it.

While more money can make a difference — fewer students are leaving the Lawrence district since the construction of that city's massive new $150 million high school — more money in Haverhill will not magically turn things around. Boston spends the most per-pupil of any community in the state, yet its schools are not considered the best.

Nor will it change perception to declare, as Buchanan did, that Haverhill has "the best teachers around." That is the kind of stock cheerleading that every superintendent does.

The key is to listen to what parents are saying and find out if the district has the ability to make them change their minds. It is a conversion process, one family at a time.

If the district succeeds in that process, the word will get out. Word-of-mouth is the best advertising possible. And that is what could push Haverhill into the school choice win column.