Wyoming, like all states, has a unique early childhood policy landscape that is shaped by economics, demographics, political history, coalitions, and other factors that create a state-specific environment for policy advocacy.
State early childhood policy progress is dependent both on the state’s environment and the numerous efforts—by the organizations listed on this page, other organizations, parents, policymakers, practitioners, and more—who work both independently and collaboratively to achieve wins for young children.
Research shows that family economic security is foundational to children’s overall wellbeing. Research also shows that widespread disparities in opportunity (especially by race) drive wide disparities in outcomes. States with policies that offer strong support to young children and their families are more likely to see 1) declining numbers of children in low-income households and 2) low racial disparity among those children.
Young Children in Low-Income Households: Declining
Approximately 36 percent (21,000) of the state’s children 0-8 live in households below 200% FPL (2022). This number represents a decrease from 32 percent (23,000) in 2016.1
Racial Disparity Among Young Children Living in Low-Income Households: High
Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native children aged 0-8 are significantly more likely to be living in households below 200 percent FPL than are Asian and non-Hispanic White children.2
State General Fund Appropriations: Growing
Wyoming’s governor signed the state’s budget bill for fiscal 2025-2026 in March of 2024, with several line-item vetoes. The biennial budget provides for total fund spending of $10.9 billion, including $3.4 billion in general fund spending and $2.7 billion in School Foundation Program Account spending, over two years. (The prior biennium budget contained appropriations and transfers of $2.8 billion from the general fund and appropriations of $1.8 billion from the School Foundation Program Account.) The budget was based on the state’s January consensus revenue forecast, which projects total general fund revenues of $3.8 billion for the 2025-2026 biennium, compared to $3.6 billion for the fiscal 2023-2024 biennium. The forecast projects a balance of $152.5 million in the Budget Reserve Account and $1.6 billion in the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account.3
Key Revenue Sources (after federal transfers):4
Charges are public payments connected with a specific government service, such as tuition paid to a state university, payments to a public hospital, or highway tolls. Wyoming does not levy a corporate income tax or individual income tax. Severance revenue, which comes from taxes on the extraction of natural resources such as oil and natural gas, is extremely volatile and can quickly rise and fall with the price and production of natural resources.
State Budget Rules:4
Wyoming uses a biennial budget. Wyoming uses one of the least strict processes in implementing its budget. There are no balanced budget requirements, no tax or expenditure limits, and no limits on authorized debt and debt service.
Wyoming has no permanent state funding stream—such as lottery revenue, nicotine tax, or trust fund distributions—dedicated by statute to early childhood supports.9 (Examples of states with such funding in place can be found in the Alliance’s Revenue and Early Childhood Finance resource center.)
Political Alignment:6 Aligned Republican
During the 2025 session, the state’s Senate and House were both Republican controlled. The state’s Governor was also a Republican.
Types of Ballot Measures Available: Three
Key State Policy Advocacy Organizations Include:
Early Childhood Policy Advocacy Multi-State Initiatives Include:8
Highlights from the state’s early childhood policy advocacy community include:9
Wyoming’s biennial budget, passed in 2024, is in effect for the coming fiscal year.
Wyoming’s most significant progress in expanding child care access has come through the work of the Interagency Childcare Working Group—a coalition of state agencies, nonprofits, and the Wyoming Business Council (working with the Harvard Growth Lab). Together, this group has evaluated economic barriers to child care in the state and coordinated efforts to find solutions which are largely focused on providers. The Working Group has examined a number of areas to increase access to childcare in the state, including business supports, zoning, subsidies, regulations, and provider grants. The Working Group is in the process of evaluating restrictive zoning regulations that make establishing a place of care more difficult. The group has also evaluated subsidies and recognized the need to encourage those providers with low-incomes to access the subsidies.
In addition, the Working group launched a Childcare Provider Grant. The grant supported costs associated with establishing a new in-home or center-based facility, or with increasing the number of children a provider might serve. The Wyoming Community Foundation distributed the $10,000 grants with funding—$188,200 total—from DFS, the Ellbogen Foundation, the Wyoming Council for Women, and the Wyoming Community Foundation. The Working Group hopes the success of the grant program will encourage legislators to further support programming such as this into the future.
The passage of HB 188—Two Families, One Nanny—is a meaningful win for childcare in Wyoming. This new law allows a nanny to care for up to four children from multiple families without requiring licensure. In many of Wyoming’s small towns, when the only licensed provider closes, families are often left scrambling to find care. Previously, regulations permitted a nanny to watch only two children (two from the same family or one from one family and one from another) which limited options and made it even harder to attract nannies to rural areas. By raising the limit to four children, HB 188 strikes a balance by expanding access to childcare without compromising safety. This is especially important during childcare emergencies in underserved communities. This bill passed both bodies with no amendments and full support.
While there was much advocates didn’t support in HB 199, it did result in stronger supports for educational savings accounts ($7,000/child and no income threshold) which families under a certain income can access for pre-k for 4-year-olds. HB 199, however, also sought to remove the pre-k eligibility. Advocates worked hard to make the case for the positive long-term impacts of early childhood education and ultimately saved the pre-k funding.
The Alliance for Early Success’ key ally in Wyoming is the Wyoming Community Foundation (WYCF), a statewide grantmaking organization that includes the Wyoming Women’s Foundation and the Wyoming Afterschool Alliance. WYCF also works with the Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center to collect KidsCount data on child and family wellbeing.
Wyoming Community Foundation is working to advance early childhood policies in several areas that align with the Alliance’s birth-through-eight policy framework:
Child Care
Child Care Workforce
K-3 Education
Preschool and Pre-K
Maternal Health
Infant & Child Health
Family Economic Security
Paid Family and Medical Leave
Click here for more information on advocates’ policy agenda.
Child care advocates in Wyoming are celebrating a major legislative victory. After years of setbacks, the state secured the most funding for developmental preschools in over a decade. The passage of SF 19 marks a significant shift. The Wyoming Women’s Foundation, who advocated for the bill’s passage, credits a new messaging approach and strategy to its success.
NOTES:
1 Kids Count Data Center, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children Ages 0 to 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, January, 2024.
2 National Center for Children in Poverty, Children Ages 0 through 8 Below 200 Percent Poverty, October 2024, NCCP analysis of ACS 5-Year Estimates – Public Use Microdata Sample 2018-2022.
3 National Association of State Budget Officers, Proposed and Enacted Budgets, FY 2026.
4 Urban Institute, State Fiscal Briefs, April 2025.
5 Alliance for Early Success, State Examples of Dedicated Funding Streams, 2025
6 National Conference of State Legislatures, 2025 State & Legislative Partisan Composition, January 31, 2025.
7 Ballotpedia, Ballot Measures by State, Kids Count Data Center, 2025.
8 Alliance for Early Success, Multi-State Initiatives for Early Childhood Policy Advocacy, July, 2024.
9 Alliance for Early Success, State-Wide Advocacy Highlights Survey, April-October, 2025.
