With Future Funding Blocked, Molaks Drop Legal Challenge to School Bus Wi-Fi

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2025 – Days after the Federal Communications Commission rescinded future funding for the service, the Molaks have moved to drop their case challenging the Federal Communications Commission’s ability to subsidize Wi-Fi on school buses.

Texas couple Matthew Molak and Maurine Molak had challenged the agency’s 2023 order expanding its E-Rate program to fund school bus Wi-Fi – their son died by suicide after being cyberbullied and they opposed the extra internet access for kids. They had also asked the FCC to reconsider a more recent order allowing the program to fund off-campus hotspots.

Republicans at the agency and in Congress were also critical of the moves, which the Biden FCC undertook in an effort to give students without fixed broadband more time to do homework.

When the agency, now with a Republican majority, repealed the two E-Rate orders last week, it cited the Molaks’ complaints. The school bus Wi-Fi case was argued in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit last year, and the parties were waiting for a decision before the Molaks asked judges to dismiss the case.

The FCC reversals won’t apply to funding already approved from last year, but pending applications for the services this year will be denied. Groups representing E-Rate participants were not pleased, as some schools and libraries had already signed contracts for the services under the impression they were eligible for E-Rate support.

E-Rate, part of the larger Universal Service Fund, spends about $2 billion annually providing internet and phone discounts to schools and libraries. The program committed about $48 million to school bus Wi-Fi last year and had pending applications from more than 8,000 entities for about 200,000 off-campus hotspots, according to tallies from the Schools, Healthcare, and Libraries Broadband Coalition.

A group of 47 Congressional Democrats had written a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr defending the programs and asking him to remove the two items from last week’s meeting agenda. They were late additions and drafts weren’t posted publicly beforehand.

Republican lawmakers for their part have been making an effort to bar a future FCC from ever reviving similar policies in the future. The Senate in May passed a resolution under the Congressional Review Act that would do just that, provided the House and president sign on.

A similar resolution was introduced in the House earlier this year, but hasn’t made it out of the House Commerce Committee.