When classes start this week for about 2,000 high school students in Dayton, Ohio, there will be no yellow school buses waiting to take them to class.

Among them is Ruben Castillo, an 11th grader at Meadowdale Career Technology Center.

The Guardian recently spoke with Castillo in reaction to the news that under Ohio law, public school districts like Dayton’s are required to provide transportation for students who attend private and charter schools. If they fail to do so, they risk millions of dollars in fines. 

However, public school students don’t get the same privilege of having access to these school bus rides. 

Because of bus driver shortages, a limited fleet, and the threat of penalties, districts in Dayton and across the state say they have been forced to prioritize transportation for non-public school students, leaving many of their own students without service.

“I’m going to have to use Uber, and it’s going to cost me $25-$30 a day to get to and from school,” Castillo told the outlet. “In wintertime, when demand is higher, it’s probably going to be more.” Over 180 school days, that adds up to thousands of dollars from his own pocket.

In recent years, Dayton and other districts such as Cincinnati have tried to address the issue by giving students passes for public buses. But students riding city buses have faced safety risks, and transit agencies say serving thousands of students alongside the general public has created challenges.

Those dangers came into sharp focus on April 4, when 18-year-old Alfred Hale III was shot and killed at Dayton’s downtown public bus hub while on his way to Dunbar High School. Soon after, state lawmakers passed a measure banning Dayton Public Schools (DPS) from purchasing public bus passes for students.

Now, the responsibility of getting to school falls to parents, grandparents, community groups, and churches. Families who continue to use public buses must pay at least $540 per high school student each year.

“There seems to be an aggressive approach to the most vulnerable families and people in America,” says DPS superintendent, David Lawrence to The Guardian. “Not only is it unfair, it’s onerous that public schools have to provide transportation to non-public school students.”