Jason Willis

“Today’s practitioners working in public systems are exhausted and worn out. Yet, they remain passionate about the mission to change people’s lives for the better. Our systems increasingly are making it hard for these practitioners to collaborate with one another. Our mission is to support these practitioners and their communities to intentionally develop a comprehensive set of skills that enable them to rebuild their systems and relationships to reflect a whole-person, integrated, tailored and culturally competent care for children, adults and families.”

EXPERTISE

Professor Willis’ expertise includes research and the practice of public policy development and  implementation, education finance, systems change strategies including collaborative organizational governance, care coordination, and integrated funding.

Professor Willis believes in making the child, adult and family the central focus of how public-serving systems deliver support. This means leveraging the collective resources across and within governmental and non-governmental organizations to focus exclusively on improving the quality of life of the communities that they serve. Fully recognizing that this is not the ‘well-worn path’ in how public systems operate, he is passionate about carving this path and creating a new reality for the way in which these systems operate and are financed.

BIOGRAPHY

Jason Willis is a Clinical Professor of Public Policy at the McGeorge School of Law where he teaches and directs a fellowship program on advancing policy and system transformation in education, health, and social service sectors through practices such as agency integration, human-centered design and public resource leverage practices.

At WestEd, he serves as an advisor on the agency's work in school finance, state policy and complex policy implementation support, which includes research and technical assistance to state and local education agencies. Previously Willis was the Assistant Superintendent of Community Engagement & Accountability for the San Jose Unified School District managing the implementation of a 5-year strategic plan. Prior to San Jose, he was the Chief Financial Officer at Stockton Unified School District and Budget Director at Oakland Unified School District.

Willis has advised over two dozen states as well as national education organizations and commissions on the formation of funding and accountability systems including National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislators, and the National Equity and Excellence Commission. Willis also sat on the Technical Working Group advising the first national study on the impact of weighted student funding systems.