Louisiana's initiative to assist local communities in developing and operating school-based health centers (SBHCs), in place since 1991, is a nationally recognized model. Starting with the basic premise that students must be healthy to learn and be educated in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, this annual report describes the important role that SBHCs play in the lives of students and schools they serve. Section 1 of the report details the expansion of school-based health care since the passage of the Adolescent School Health Initiative Act in 1991. This section also highlights two projects related to continuous quality improvement: (1) the best practices initiative, a set of clinical guidelines for SBHC preventive services based on national recommendations; and (2) the outcome measures summary documenting the differences SBHCs make in immunization status and health insurance coverage of Louisiana students. Section 2 summarizes the leading reasons children visit SBHCs, and demonstrates the wide variety of services available at the centers, including preventive and primary health care, psychosocial services, and health education. Section 3 features profiles of each of Louisiana's operating school health centers, illustrating the strong links between the SBHCs and the communities they serve. The report's three appendices include sample diagnoses for each of the categories of conditions by which SBHC data are coded, the text of the state law that created the program, and the 2001-2002 financial statement. (KB)