Interesting dilemma

I'm not really good with numbers, as far as remembering them accurately, so I won't try to give exact ones. Dayton is a fairly large city - larger than Salt Lake City- I remember that much. There are many schools that are considered "Dayton City Schools". In the interest of avoiding segregation, which would happen just by nature of who tends to live where, they formed a policy whereby kids can go to whatever school they want to attend. This has also allowed for the many charter schools and private (mostly religious) schools that have sprung up. Due to the resulting complications as well as expense of transporting students from various places to various places, there are very few school buses used, especially at the high school level. Students are expected to generally get to school on their own. Up until last year, students could get special passes to ride the public city buses. When the school budget was voted on, it resulted in necessary cuts. Since much of curriculum in schools is mandated statewide and federally, and pay is usually dictated by contract, schools have to find places to make cuts when voters don't want their taxes to go up even a penny. So one of the things to go was the public bus passes. As a result, some of the students here sometimes don't go to school because their family doesn't have the money to get them there, whether gas money to drive every day or money for a bus pass. The family in our ward that makes up the largest part of our Young Men/Young Women program is in this dilemma. The school district in Dayton long ago was well-known for being a superior educational entity. Cronyism and nepotism have resulted in a seriously decreased quality. The kids in our ward chose what they felt was the best school for them but it's pretty far from where they live. Their mom is single with lots of health problems. They live on child support from a divorce settlement and church welfare. They can't afford to go to school regularly. They can't even get to church regularly, but that's in part due to the fact that the mother isn't consistent about expectations. The mother definitely could do some things to improve their life but is slow to get her act together. Without taking away her responsibility, it's hard to get her the help she needs, the help the kids need to get out of a bad cycle of lifestlye. We love these kids. It's hard. We pray for them and do what we can. We are so grateful for our own children and the responsible way they live and care for our grandchildren. The Dayton schools are "desegregated" but that has caused an even greater problem now. It will be interesting to see what happens next.