President Trump issued a fresh call to shut down the Department of Education “immediately,” lambasting the poor performance of American schools as his nominee to lead the embattled Department faced questioning about Trump's plans from Congress.

"Oh, I’d like it to be closed immediately. Look at the Department of Education. It’s a big con job," Trump told reporters.

The president lamented America's low ranking in education compared to other advanced nations and the relatively high cost per pupil that Americans pay.

"They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40."

Trump calls to "close" immediately

Established by an act of Congress under President Jimmy Carter, the Department has long been a target of conservatives opposed to big government control.

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order urging Congress to repeal the agency, while directing the Department to unravel itself to whatever extent possible under the law.

"I say send it back to Iowa, to Idaho, to Colorado," he said Wednesday.

"We probably have 35, maybe 37 states that will do as well as Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden,” Trump added. “They’ll be just as good.”

Trump's nominee questioned

During a Senate hearing Thursday, Trump’s Education Secretary nominee, former WWE executive Linda McMahon, was grilled on Trump's reform plans.

While Trump has urged McMahon to put herself out of a job, she toed a more delicate line during Thursday's hearing.

McMahon affirmed that the Department cannot be dismantled without an act of Congress and pledged not to touch financial aid programs like the Pell Grant and Title I funding for poor schools. But she also vowed to enact Trump's orders to cut funding to schools that promote leftist ideology.

“It’s not the president’s goal to defund the programs, only to have it operate more efficiently,” she told the Senate.

Trump’s effort to reform the Department is part of a wider push to downsize a bloated, left-wing federal bureaucracy. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has already axed nearly $1 billion from the Department of Education, including $100 million in DEI grants to train teachers on how to "help students understand/interrogate the complex histories involved in oppression, and help students recognize areas of privilege and power on an individual and collective basis."