Blog
FCC Reverses Wi-Fi Decision
- By: admin
- On: 10/03/2025 12:12:42
- In: Regulatory Updates
In a 2-1 vote on September 30, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission decided to declare Wi-Fi on school buses to be ineligible for E-Rate purposes from the federal government.
Their decision basically reverses a policy decision they made originally during the pandemic to expand the program to allow schools to receive discounts on Wi-Fi for school buses and for lending internet hotspots for students, particularly in underserved and rural areas. The idea was to help address the ‘homework gap' where students who could not get service were unable to complete remote assignments and classwork.
The change is effective immediately for the current 2025-26 school year, meaning pending and future requests will be denied. In a statement, FCC Chair Brendan Carr called the original expansion “illegal” because it exceeded the original intent of the program, which was to fund connections for schools and libraries. The one dissenting commissioner, Anna Gomez, offered her own dissenting statement to the final decision.
NAPT joined AASA (the Superintendents' Association) and others in appealing to keep the expansion in place and attaining the original decision was among our first joint efforts on the federal advocacy level.