Small towns almost always need personal transport. But the definition of a small town in US is much bigger than most other developed places (my experience is EU, SKorea, Japan)
If it's a small town, there's not going to be many big or small schools. Why such a weird system 😅
If significant travel is required, the school should organise travel and stay. Unless the kid is participating in state level at U-12, there is no significant travel for play in Japan and Germany (for popular sports). The kid is a kid afterall. And study is also important