US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he still wants to work with Congress on the future of the Department of Education, as multiple reports suggested he was drafting executive orders to shut it down completely.

Trump cannot abolish the department without the approval of Congress, which he is unlikely to get, but US media reported Tuesday that he would issue orders to effectively dismantle it from inside.

"I want the states to run schools, and I want Linda to put herself out of a job," Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday, referring to his pick for education secretary, Linda McMahon.

Asked whether he plans to resort to an executive order or collaborate with Congress, Trump said: "I think I'd work with Congress."

He added that he would also have to work with teachers' unions "because the teachers union is the only one that's opposed to it."

The National Education Association, the largest labor union in the country, described Trump's plans as "a direct attack on our students, educators, and public schools."

"We won't let it happen. Congress must reject this extremist agenda," the organization said on social media.

In the United States, education infrastructure is mostly the purview of state and local governments. 

Launched in 1980, the US Department of Education currently has some 4,400 employees and a $79 billion annual budget. 

It is primarily responsible for managing federal loans for college and university students, collecting data on students' progress and implementing anti-discrimination protections.

The White House confirmed Trump was due to sign on Tuesday the latest in a slew of executive orders since his assumption of power on 20 January but did not specify what they were.

The reports come amid a wider blitz on the federal government led by Elon Musk, the world's richest man, that effectively shuttered the USAID humanitarian aid agency on Monday.

Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) is already probing data at the education department, the Washington Post newspaper reported on Monday.

The tech tycoon referenced the report on his social media network X, saying that while former US president and conservative icon Ronald Reagan had not honored his vow to abolish the department in the 1980s, "President @realDonaldTrump will succeed."

During the 2024 election campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to do away with the department if he won a second term in power, returning decisions on the subject to US states.

The Republican billionaire has repeatedly said the Department has too much spending power, even as global metrics show the United States lagging far behind other countries in school standards.

He has also criticized US schools as being too liberal. Last week, he signed several executive orders regarding hot-button topics in education — including race, gender, and college campus protests.

Trump has nominated McMahon — the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) — to lead the Education Department, in a move widely seen as signaling his intention to downgrade it.

At the culmination of a staged feud, Trump once body-slammed her husband, legendary wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, and shaved his head in the middle of a wrestling ring on live television.