This is a pre-emptive move to force the state to copitulate before the hammer comes down from the taxpayers
The public sector unions know time is not on their side and they want an agreement before their collective rights are curtailed...
That makes sense (I mean your analysis, not the behavior of the unions). When the collective bargaining reform was passed in Wisconsin, some school districts jumped into new contracts before the law went into effect. Those tend to be the districts that have had to make cuts, including layoffs, since then.