Illinois Rep. Crawford’s school psychologist qualifications bill passes House and Senate

Passed bill authored by State Rep. Michael Crawford seeks to update school psychologists’ qualifications and expand their authorized services in Illinois public schools, according to the Illinois General Assembly.

In the House, 69 Democrats and 25 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while nine Republicans opposed it.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, 40 Democrats and six Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while 12 Republicans voted against it.

Crawford introduced the bill in the Illinois House on Jan. 13, 2026 during the 104th session.

The legislation, known as HB4397, was passed on May 19, 2026 during the general assembly session 104.

According to the Illinois General Assembly site, the legislature summarized the bill’s official text as follows: “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.”

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, this bill revises the definition, qualifications and authorized duties of school psychologists in Illinois public schools. It changes required education to a specialist or equivalent degree with at least 60 graduate semester hours in school psychology and at least 1,200 clock hours of supervised experience, or a Nationally Certified School Psychologist credential, along with a Professional Educator License. The bill expands and details school psychological services to include a wide range of assessment, prevention, intervention, mental and behavioral health, crisis response, consultation, supervision and program development activities. It also bars school psychologists from providing services outside their employment to any student in a district that employs them.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. David Koehler (Democrat-46th District), Sen. Julie A. Morrison (Democrat-29th District), and Sen. Karina Villa (Democrat-25th District), along with seven other sponsors.

Bills in Illinois follow a multi-step legislative process, beginning with introduction in either the House or Senate, followed by committee review, floor debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching the governor for approval or veto. The General Assembly operates on a biennial schedule, and while typically thousands of bills are introduced each session, only a fraction successfully pass through the process to become law.

You can read more about bills and other measures here.

Crawford graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a BS.

Crawford, a Democrat, was elected to the Illinois State House in 2025 to represent the state’s 31st House District, replacing previous state representative Mary E. Flowers.

Lawmakers listed as “Not Voting” were present for the vote but did not cast a vote. Those marked as having an “Excused Absence” were not present and formally provided a reason for their absence, which was accepted.