Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is launching a "Save Our Schools" campaign on Wednesday against President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon's attempt to dismantle the Department of Education.
"The federal government has invested in our public schools," Warren said in an exclusive interview with ABC News. "Taking that away from our kids so that a handful of billionaires can be even richer is just plain ugly, and I will fight it with everything I've got."
Warren suggested she is working with students, teachers, parents and unions to "sound the alarm" nationwide.
"My starting point with this campaign is that I know the power of telling stories and the power it brings to organize people into the fight. We need numbers to win, and this is how we start," Warren said.
In a short video obtained by ABC News that Warren is posting to her roughly 20 million social media followers Wednesday morning, Warren says she is launching an investigation into reported plans to replace Department of Education call centers with chatbots. ABC News has not independently confirmed these reports.
Warren said that through a combination of federal investigations, oversight, storytelling and even lawsuits, she will work with the community, including lawmakers in Congress, to do everything she can to defend public education. Warren did not provide further details on how she plans to challenge the administration through federal oversight and lawsuits.
A former special education teacher, Warren said she opposes the Trump administration's agency overhaul because she said it may result in fired teachers and increased class sizes, adding that programs for students with special needs will "disappear." However, the Trump administration has vowed to keep statutory funding, such as the programs for students with special needs.
Trump said those services for students with disabilities, such as those protected by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, will be rehomed in other departments, including the Department of Health and Human Services, which is undergoing massive layoffs itself.
"They think that the American people are stupid [and] will be fooled by slapping a different title on the door and that somehow our kids will get the help that they're entitled to," Warren told ABC News.
No one is fooled and certainly not the kids who need that help," she added.
The Trump administration has said it is returning education to the states in dismantling the federal department and that students will be better served by their state departments.
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The campaign is also personal for Warren. In the video obtained by ABC News, Warren said she has seen with her own eyes what the Department of Education does for special needs families and that she is doing everything she can to "fight back."
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