President Trump’s proposed education budget — called “devastating,” a “wrecking ball” and an “assault on the American Dream” — primarily cuts funding for ineffective programs, argue Williamson M. Evers, a former U.S. assistant secretary of education for planning, evaluation and policy development, and Vicki E. Alger, a research fellow at the Independent Institute. Trump wants to reduce the U.S. Department of Education’s discretionary budget by $9.2 billion, from $68.3 billion