I think "the way" to do DHCP relaying is not through simple forwarding, which is what you were trying to do if I'm not mistaken, but through the use of dhcp-relay helpers on the switch (as Michael explained). If I recall correctly the dhcp-relay helpers also put something extra into the packet of the DHCP request before forwarding it to the DHCP server so that the DHCP server knows from which subnet the DHCP request originated and from which DHCP pool it should offer an IP, simple forwarding ofcourse will not do this.
A packetcapture on the DHCP server and client might also be a good idea to verify that both of them are communicating through the use of the usual DHCP messages (DORA...).