A Rhode Island school district has slapped a mother with an outrageous $117,130.50 bill simply for requesting the classroom materials of a teacher caught mocking the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. This isn’t bureaucracy—it’s a brazen attempt to shield radical left-wing indoctrination from public scrutiny.
Barrington Public Schools insisted that combing through one social studies teacher’s curriculum would cost taxpayers more than a small house. They even tacked on a $379.50 fee just to release emails mentioning President Trump. This fee schedule isn’t about recovering costs. It’s political censorship, plain and simple.
Last month, veteran educator and NEA local president Benjamin Fillo gleefully called Charlie Kirk “a piece of garbage” on TikTok while celebrating his shooting. Video footage shows Fillo mocking the notion that conservatives deserve safety or respect. Parents across Rhode Island rightly erupted in fury.
Rather than immediately produce the materials, the district put Fillo on paid leave and launched an investigation—while charging taxpayers six figures to view what that investigation would examine. Barrington’s fee structure weaponizes the state’s Access to Public Records Act to bury any dissent.
Nicole Solas, a concerned mother and Rhode Island taxpayer, asked for transparency. She doesn’t even attend Barrington schools. Yet the district treats her like a nuisance, demanding a ransom payment before releasing one page of curriculum. That’s an insult to every parent who expects accountability from their public schools.
The Goldwater Institute, through its pro bono American Freedom Network, has intervened on Solas’s behalf. Attorney James McGlone fired off a demand letter: either waive the absurd fees or prepare for litigation. A court will likely find that taxpayer-funded lesson plans must be publicly available at no cost.
This fight goes beyond one district. Across America, activists within teacher unions are pushing extremist views—undermining free speech, demonizing traditional values and weaponizing the classroom against dissenting opinions. When school boards hide behind six-figure fees, they reveal their intent: to indoctrinate, not educate.
Parents have a constitutional right to know what their children are learning. Taxpayer dollars should never underwrite partisan politics. Barrington Public Schools must drop the ransom, release the records and reaffirm that public education serves the public, not a radical agenda.
Every Republican who believes in limited government and parental rights must stand with Nicole Solas. Demand that your local schools operate in broad daylight, not in the shadows of inflated fees and political favoritism. Transparency isn’t negotiable—it’s the cornerstone of accountable democracy.
The only way to stop this assault on honest education is to refuse to pay for censorship. Parents, taxpayers and concerned citizens: unite, scrutinize and insist on full disclosure. Our children’s minds—and our nation’s future—depend on it.
