To keep teachers in the classroom, Texas lawmakers approved retention allotments. But not every teacher received the same amount.
Teachers in the West Oso, Tuloso-Midway, Calallen and London school districts received $4,000 or $8,000, depending on their years of experience. But just a few miles away, teachers employed by the Flour Bluff and Corpus Christi school
districts were only offered $2,500 to $5,000.This is because the Texas Retention Allotment created by House Bill 2 offers extra dollars to teachers in school systems with fewer than 5,000 enrolled students.
The Corpus Christi Independent School District is far from the threshold, but the Flour Bluff Independent School District only missed out on higher pay for teachers by less than 400
students.
Flour Bluff ISD Superintendent Chris Steinbruck believes this isn’t fair.
Technically, there is a way Flour Bluff schools could get down below the 5,000-student line, but it isn’t an option the district is willing to consider. To secure higher allotments for its teachers, Flour Bluff ISD would have to abandon some of its students.
Though the district enrolled 5,378 students last year, less than 4,500 actually lived in the district. The rest, nearly 950, were transfer students. For close to a decade, Flour Bluff ISD has welcomed tuition-free transfers.
“The trauma that would put our families, our transfer families that have been here, some of them since kindergarten — the trauma that would put them through is not acceptable,” Steinbruck said.
Just counting resident students, Flour Bluff ISD has never had more than 5,000. One reason the district has attracted transfers is its proximity to the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.
“Our teachers are excelling,” Steinbruck said. “We’re one of the few destination school districts in the state of Texas. That performance is driving those families to drive past their neighborhood schools to come to us. But what it’s doing is reducing the amount of money that we can give to our teachers in salary.”
The district fears losing teachers to other districts because of the pay difference.
On Aug. 6, Steinbruck and the Flour Bluff school board gathered state Rep. Todd Hunter and a representative of state Sen. Adam Hinojosa’s office together to see if there might be a legislative fix for the district.
Hunter said that he is committed to supporting Flour Bluff ISD on this issue, calling the situation “ridiculous.”
“This is a glitch in the law,” Hunter said.
The law currently differentiates between rural and urban school districts. Hunter noted that districts like Flour Bluff likely have more in common with small rural districts than the largest districts in the state that they are currently lumped in with.
Hunter previously worked with Flour Bluff and other coastal school districts to secure funding for school windstorm insurance.
Texas Education Agency enrollment data shows that Corpus Christi ISD had more than 32,000 students in the 2025-26 school year. The Gregory-Portland Independent School District had 5,130. No other Coastal Bend school district was larger than 5,000.
Olivia Garrett reports on education and community news in South Texas. Contact her at olivia.garrett@caller.com.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Flour Bluff ISD, too big for extra state funds, asks for lawmaker help
