Illinois legislation · 104th General Assembly
Illinois HB4397: SCH CD-SCH PSYCHOLOGIST-DEGREE
Status: Signed into law, July 24, 2026
Amends the Children with Disabilities Article of the School Code. Provides that "school psychologist" means a psychologist who, along with other qualifications, has graduated with a specialist degree, an equivalent degree with the completion of a minimum of 60 graduate semester hours, or a higher degree in school psychology (rather than a master's degree or higher degree in psychology or educational psychology) from an institution of higher learning and has had at least 1,200 clock hours of supervised experience (rather than one school year of full-time supervised experience) in the delivery of school psychological services. Makes changes to provide that school psychological services provided by qualified specialists who hold a Professional Educator License endorsed for school psychology may include, but are not limited to: (1) providing assessments; (2) creating and implementing prevention and intervention services that support student learning; (3) providing mental and behavioral health services; (4) acting as liaisons between public schools and community agencies; (5) evaluating program effectiveness; (6) providing crisis prevention, response, and intervention within the school setting; (7) providing consultation and collaboration; (8) supervising school psychologist interns enrolled in school psychology programs; (9) screening school enrollments to identify children who should be referred for individual study; and (10) developing any other necessary programs and services. Provides that a school psychologist may not provide school psychological services outside of his or her employment to any student in any school district that employs the school psychologist. Makes other changes.
What the bill says
A bill FOR 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026HB4397Introduced 1/14/2026, by Rep. Michael CrawfordSYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: See Index See Index See Index Amends the Children with Disabilities Article of the School Code.Provides that "school psychologist" means a psychologist who, along withother qualifications, has graduated with a specialist degree, anequivalent degree with the completion of a minimum of 60 graduate semesterhours, or a higher degree in school psychology (rather than a master'sdegree or higher degree in psychology or educational psychology) from aninstitution…
From the introduced text, January 13, 2026:
A BILL FOR 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026HB4397Introduced 1/14/2026, by Rep. Michael CrawfordSYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: See Index See Index See Index Amends the Children with Disabilities Article of the School Code.Provides that "school psychologist" means a psychologist who, along withother qualifications, has graduated with a specialist degree, anequivalent degree with the completion of a minimum of 60 graduate semesterhours, or a higher degree in school psychology (rather than a master'sdegree or higher degree in psychology or educational psychology) from aninstitution of higher learning and has had at least 1,200 clock hours ofsupervised experience (rather than one school year of full-time supervisedexperience) in the delivery of school psychological services. Makeschanges to provide that school psychological services provided byqualified specialists who hold a Professional Educator License endorsedfor school psychology may include, but are not limited (2) creating and implementing prevention and interventionservices that support student learning; (3) providing mental andbehavioral health services; (4) acting as liaisons between public schoolsand community agencies; (5) evaluating program effectiveness; (6)providing crisis prevention, response, and intervention within the schoolsetting; (7) providing consultation and collaboration; (8) supervisingschool psychologist interns enrolled in school psychology programs; (9)screening school enrollments to identify children who should be referredfor individual study; and (10) developing any other necessary programs andservices. Provides that a school psychologist may not provide schoolpsychological services …