EAST PROVIDENCE — Its leaders say heckling teachers may have forced the School Committee to end Tuesday’s meeting early, but the East Providence Taxpayer Association will have its time at the podium.

The group is holding a news conference today at 10 a.m. in front of East Providence High School. Part of its message is that the teachers’ requests for a new contract will push the city further into debt and cost the average homeowner $1,300 more over the next three years.

“The members of the taxpayers association and other community observers were disappointed by the behavior of the teachers at the School Committee meeting,” association spokesman Bill Murphy wrote in one of two news releases yesterday. “There were many inappropriate expressions of personal views that prevented rational, civil discourse.”

The high school auditorium that night was filled with teachers from all over the state. Most came to support the East Providence Education Association, which represents the city’s more than 500 teachers. Several held signs criticizing the committee for unilaterally reducing teachers’ salaries by nearly 5 percent, forcing them to pay 20 percent (previously, they didn’t pay anything) toward their health insurance costs and several other unprecedented measures that were taken earlier this month.

The committee said it took the action to stop the “bleeding” of a growing $8.3-million deficit. Some board members and several city officials have said the union’s last contract contributed significantly to the city’s financial downturn. They say the contract, which expired Oct. 31, was unaffordable, and “desperate times calls for desperate measures.”

The union said the committee’s action was illegal and it took the matter to court. Communities are waiting to hear if Superior Court Judge Mark A. Pfeiffer will reverse the changes. His decision is expected to be released by next Friday.

The audience erupted in cheers when union President Valarie Lawson told the committee it should accept a recent arbitrator’s recommendation for a new contract, which included a wage freeze this year and teachers’ contributions to health care that would increase to 15 percent — 5 percent this year and 10 percent next year — within three years. She said the teachers were willing and simply want to get back to the business of teaching.

The rest of the meeting was dominated by boos and outbursts, most of which were directed at School Committee Chairman Anthony A. Carcieri.

“The teachers heckled the one member of the general public who spoke, and were so disruptive that the School Committee had to shut down public comment for fear that the crowd would get out of control,” Murphy wrote. “This was most unfortunate and a terrible example to students and the community. We thought it was particularly appalling that the police had to escort the members of the School Committee out of the building to shield them from the crowd.”

In an e-mail yesterday, union lawyer John Leidecker said, “The police chief [speaking on a talk radio show] was abundantly clear: There was no threat or danger. While some people were speaking out, the meeting was not on the verge of becoming out of control.”

apina@projo.com