What they say for public consumption and what they insist on in the contract are different things.
So, is the District pointing that out, loudly, or demanding the District's side be heard in their own words?
Our local news (over 1k miles away) "covered" this, last night, and everyone talking (beside the reporterette) was a student or a teacher. There might have been 5 seconds of the reporterette saying the District says it can't afford the Union's demands.