In a sign of how much sleepier the D.C. school beat has been in the post-Michelle Rhee era—-or how strapped the Washington Post is for resources—-ace Post education reporter Bill Turque is leaving Local to cover the presidential campaign.

“My view is that while the post-Rhee days may lack the drama 2007-10, there remains no more important story in the District than the fate of public education,” Turque wrote in a post on his D.C. Schools Insider blog. It’s not clear yet who Turque’s replacement will be—-although Turque assures his readers that there will be one. Post Local editor Vernon Loeb didn’t respond to a request for comment on whether the new reporter has been hired yet.

Turque’s biggest contribution to inner Post drama came in 2010, when he feuded publicly with the paper’s editorial board and one of its writers, Jo-Ann Armao. Turque wrote a blog post criticizing Armao for being soft on Rhee, the story temporarily disappeared and then reappeared, with the ed board still smarting.