Jonathan E. Furr is a partner in the Chicago office of Holland & Knight and practices in the areas of education, public policy and regulation, and state and local government contracting. In the education sector, Mr. Furr helps clients structure programs and transactions that best serve their educational goals and also meet state and federal legal requirements. Mr. Furr is actively engaged in state and national education policy and legislative developments in key areas of education reform, including data, human capital systems, interventions in low-performing schools, virtual learning, charter schools, early learning, and STEM education. Mr. Furr also represents various educational service companies in business strategy, contractual, regulatory compliance, intellectual property, and employment matters.
Mr. Furr's representative engagements in the education sector include:
- As lead counsel for a coalition of education reform organizations, served as the primary author of Illinois Senate Bill 7, which has been lauded by Secretary Duncan as a national model for state education reform. This 2011 legislation ties performance evaluations to critical human capital decisions, streamlines the teacher dismissal process, allows Chicago to lengthen its school day, and reforms collective bargaining and strike provisions.
- Co-led the writing and application development process for the State of Illinois' Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge application, which included comprehensive reforms to the State's birth to 5 policies and programs and has qualified the state for up to $35 million.
- Served as lead consultant to the State of Illinois on its planning and applications relating to education stimulus programs, including the State's "Phase One" and "Phase Two" applications for the Race to the Top program. The Illinois RTTT applications qualified the State for approximately $40 million in funding, and serve as the blueprint for numerous components of the State's education reform agenda.
- Served as the primary author of the Illinois State Board of Education's successful 2008 and 2009 proposals to the Institute of Education Sciences for approximately $20 million in funding for state longitudinal data system development.
- Served as the lead drafter and negotiator for the 2009 Illinois P-20 Longitudinal Education Data System Act (SB 1828) that establishes the requirements and framework for the development of the State's longitudinal education data system. This Act garnered the Data Quality Campaign's 2009 Leadership Award.
- Represented a national leader in virtual education services in its successful effort to change Illinois law to permit General State Aid funding for virtual school programming.
- Advised Mass Insight Education & Research Institute on the development of a state policy framework for implementing the recommendations for "turnaround" developed in The Turnaround Challenge publication.
Outside of the education sector, Mr. Furr is experienced in the representation of public bodies in multiple areas of legal services, including general corporate counseling, zoning, development, and contracts. In particular, Mr. Furr has represented multiple public and private sector clients on energy performance contracting projects that guarantee significant reductions in energy consumption in existing buildings.
Mr. Furr's representative engagements in public sector and energy efficiency contracting include:
- Represented the owner of the Empire State Building on a high profile energy efficiency project for this landmark structure. The project resulted in a replicable contract template that can be used by other property owners for energy retrofits, building on the standard contract form Mr. Furr prepared for the Building Owners & Management Association (BOMA) International Energy Performance Contracting Model program.
- Represented the Public Building Commission of Chicago (PBCC) on its procurement of energy performance contracting services for the Richard J. Daley Center.
- Represented the Village of Northbrook, Illinois, in the structuring of its green building initiative, which includes a variety of incentives and requirements relating to LEED Green Building Rating Systems and construction recycling.
- Advised municipalities and urban planning consultants on the implementation of form-based regulations for projects ranging from specific redevelopment areas to entirely new municipal unified development codes.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Furr served as the General Counsel for two major State of Illinois agencies. As General Counsel for the Illinois State Board of Education, he was responsible for the development of legislation, regulations and policy impacting public schools, including state assessment policy and contracting matters, data sharing agreements and compliance with privacy protection laws, the agency's approach to school and district improvement under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and the regulation of supplemental educational service providers. As General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Mr. Furr provided legal and policy advice on the state's conservation and outdoor recreation programs. He negotiated a major economic development agreement to attract an international event to Illinois, and structured the project agreements for the 1,500-acre event site. He also worked on a variety of natural resources matters involving wetlands protection, natural resources damages, endangered species and natural areas consultation, and water use and conservation.