It is impressive that East Providence officials are fighting to stop the financial bleeding in the city’s school system, so that they may direct limited resources more toward students.

Under the adversarial system that Rhode Island has in place, unfortunately, such attempts to do the right thing are never easy.

Teachers unions are powerful political forces that elected officials are wary of challenging. And often, local school committees — amateurs contending against professionals — are simply out-muscled at the contract table by experienced, hardball negotiators. Many local leaders find it easier to run up a white flag than engage in a protracted, very costly battle against teachers, most of them dedicated and hard-working professionals who may be their friends and neighbors.

But these are not normal times. East Providence has a $4.2 million school deficit, with more than $3 million added in the last year. And it’s getting worse because of the generous contract the previous School Committee doled out to the teachers union, including a 5-percent raise in the last year of the contract.

Many in the private sector are seeing tiny raises, or none at all. Many consider themselves lucky to have a job in this economy. And their benefits are not nearly as generous as those given to these powerful special interests.

East Providence teachers, for example, pay zero percent of their medical-insurance costs. The health and dental expenses of school personnel cost the city $5.8 million this past year. (See “East Providence school board takes hard line in contract talks,” news, Nov. 10.)

East Providence officials, led by Supt. Mario Cirillo and School Committee member Anthony Carcieri (a distant cousin of the governor), believed that they had little choice but to hire an expert labor lawyer who, in the words of Mr. Carcieri, “knows the game in and out.”

What they are trying to do is extract $3 million in concessions from the union, because times are so hard for the schools. The days of plush budgets, with loads of tax dollars to spread around, are over in Rhode Island.

“It’s supposed to be about the school kids, and the buildings are falling in around them,” said School Committee member Steven Santos. “It’s tough to learn when you are in a lousy environment.”

Rhode Island’s public schools, while among the most expensive per pupil in America, have seriously underperformed in recent years. Students have been sadly shortchanged by a system that gives far too much clout to the teachers unions. Greater balance is needed, and East Providence deserves the public’s thanks for fighting for it.