Hickok, Deputy Secretary and ‘Go-To’ Guy, Steps Down

The No. 2 official at the Department of Education, who spent the past four years helping to sell the Bush administration’s sweeping education plans across the country, said last week that he intends to resign.

The departure of Deputy Secretary Eugene W. Hickok, a former Pennsylvania education chief, had been predicted by many insiders since President Bush’s re-election and the Nov. 15 announcement that Secretary of Education Rod Paige would step down. Mr. Bush has nominated Margaret Spellings, his chief domestic-policy adviser, to lead the Education Department in his second term. She is expected to face little opposition during confirmation hearings likely to be held in January.

In a letter to the president made public on Dec. 2, Mr. Hickok lauded the No Child Left Behind Act, saying it has “given birth to a new...