Heide Sides has 10 children in her Casper day care and another 10, mostly babies, on her waiting list.

By the time they get in, the children might be 2 years old.

"My parents actually ask, 'Can I get pregnant now?'" Sides said. "It's because they want quality care."

Sides told her story Monday to the Legislature's Joint Labor, Health and Social Services interim committee, echoing concerns that quality day care and early childhood education are hard for Wyoming parents to find and afford.

After hearing much support from child care providers and state officials, the committee of 14 unanimously approved a bill that will advance to the Legislature for all state lawmakers to consider next month.

The plan would rate child care facilities on quality, give incentive payments for higher quality care and offer scholarships for child care workers' education.

The goal is that all children, not just those from stable, well-off families, will enter kindergarten ready to learn and with few developmental delays.

Lawmakers are concerned that now, many parents send their kids to unlicensed, low-quality day care, either because they don't know the difference, or can't afford better.

The bill will be one of the more expensive debated in the coming Legislative session, with an initial price tag of $14.3 million every two years, to increase to as much as $27 million per biennium.

Reach Barbara Nordby at (307) 266-0633 or at barbara.nordby@casperstartribune.net.