Vowing to give parents more of a say in classrooms, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Wednesday laid out her vision for education in the United States if she wins the White House. 

In a town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, hosted by conservative political group Moms for Liberty, the former South Carolina governor spoke in support of increasing transparency in the classroom and creating school choice. Meanwhile, she promised to “neuter” the U.S. Education Department and assailed transgender girls competing in sports against cisgender females.

Haley agreed to sign a pledge from Moms for Liberty to “advance policies that strengthen parental involvement in decision-making, increase transparency, defend against government overreach and secure parental rights at all levels of government.”

“This is not a Republican or Democrat issue,” Haley said. “Every parent, regardless of their education, regardless of where they're from, knows what's best for their child.”

A mother of two, Haley added: “No parent should ever wonder what's being said or taught to their child in the classroom. We need full transparency in the classroom always.”

She accused “the school bureaucrats” and teachers’ unions of “trying to take custody of our children.”

Haley said parents should be able to decide which schools their children should attend. 

“When you know all kids don't fit in the same mold, making sure that there are options, that matters,” she said.

While some Republican candidates have promised to eliminate the Education Department entirely, Haley noted that doing so would require an act by Congress, which would face long odds. Instead, she said she would seek to “get rid of all the guts” of the department by sending much of its funding to states in the form of block grants. 

“Let's take away the power of the federal government, reduce that size of the Department of Education and empower the parents on the ground, empower the people in those states,” she said. “That way, you're getting it closer to the kids. More money is actually going to teaching, and then you can control what's being said and taught to your child in the classroom.”

Haley said the Education Department should have a narrow mission of teaching children “the basics so that they can be successful contributors to society.”

“Anything outside of that? They're not meant to parent. They're not meant to do anything that doesn't involve those basic core concepts of education,” she said.

Haley criticized the practice of allowing transgender girls to compete in female sports, as well as teaching about transgender people. She has previously called the debate over transgender athletes “the women’s issue of our time.”

“The idea that you've got these girls who've worked so long to get to the point in their high school career, and then have a biological boy step up, who's physiologically going to be different, have them step up and take over all that hard work that they've done, and then you're going to go and say, ‘Oh, and they get to change in your locker room?” Haley said.

She also said she recently spoke to a New Hampshire high school senior who claimed that “they talk about transgenderism” in “every class” she attends. The teen, according to Haley, said she feels like she is “walking on eggshells” because she’s scared she might say something that will upset people.

“That is the last thing I want her worrying about in school,” Haley said.

A spokesman for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign on Wednesday attacked Haley’s education agenda as “extreme.”

“MAGA Republican candidates continue to show they have no real plan to improve our nation’s public schools, address youth mental health, or keep guns out of our schools,” the spokesman, Kevin Munoz, told Fox News’ website. “Our students shouldn't be used as political pawns — they need real leadership and real solutions from their president.”

“If Joe Biden thinks I'm being a MAGA extremist for being a mom for liberty, then count me as one of them,” Haley said Wednesday. “Because we have to be extreme when it comes to our kids.”