I have been in touch with friends in Houston, and they say they are sorry to lose him. They were hoping he would change the tone of the district left behind by Terry Grier, known as a topdown manager.
NYC needs and deserves good leadership.
This is what Chalkbeat says you need to know about Carranza.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Carranza was superintendent here in San Francisco for four years and was assistant superintendent for several years before that, during the time I was an actively involved SFUSD parent, so I’ve known him around the district for a fairly long time. I’m so-so on him as a superintendent, though I love his music (my daughter, who played Latin jazz trombone in high school, has performed with him).
I guess my summary would be, “He could be worse.” He doesn’t stand up to charterizers and privatizers, but he doesn’t embrace them either. There was a situation in my kids’ high school that really needed a firm hand from the district to deal with, and he didn’t provide that, or support the school board members who stuck their necks out to try to deal with it. So, “He could be worse” is the best I can do. (And I do love his music.)
He’s now the most powerful person who would know me if we ran into each other at Starbucks, which has happened.
Here’s my commentary on hiring superintendents in general:
Running a large, diverse, high-poverty school district i basically an impossible job, so short of out-and-out corruption and evil, I basically view experienced superintendents as all on the same hot seat. The community response to the new superintendent is so often “our knight in shining armor is here at last!” and then they discover that the person isn’t a miracle worker (because it’s an impossible job) and turn into skeptics and worse.
I was surprised that the Miami community was so eager not to have the last guy, Carvalho (the one who WAS going to move to NYC), leave, since it’s so rare that the superintendent manages to remain popular. Sounds like Houston still likes Richard, too. Maybe my view that they all fall out of favor is too cynical, though generally in education, it’s impossible to be too cynical.
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I am sure he sees this move as an opportunity for him at an optimum time as he may want to avoid having to deal with a state takeover in Houston. This would be tragic as there are still many good public schools in Houston. I was in Houston last week where I saw several warehouse buildings that had been converted into Kipp and Yes Prep schools. Carranza has served in both red and blue states. While I believe New York will be a challenge, he will find the political climate more reasonable with more savvy parent groups that support strong public schools. I hope he can expand community schools in NYC, but he will probably not be able to stand up to the charter lobby. Still, New York could do worse as he is a legitimate educator.
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