IHL Commissioner Gets Contract Extension

Hank Bounds

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Hank Bounds will get at least four more years as the head of Mississippi’s public university system.

The College Board voted unanimously Thursday to extend Bounds’ contract as commissioner of higher education. Bounds had about 18 months remaining on his original four-year contract signed in 2009, but Ed Blakeslee, president of the College Board, said board members wanted to give Bounds a “vote of confidence.”

Bounds got a salary of $341,250 a year plus a $25,000 annual housing allowance when he started the job. Blakeslee said the board didn’t give him a raise because of the tight budget conditions, even though some members would have liked to. Some university presidents also recently received contract extensions without raises.

Bounds was state superintendent of K-12 schools from 2005 to 2009.