Mayor Taps Head of Houston Schools to Be NYC Chancellor

The head of schools in Houston, Tex., is moving to the Big Apple.

Richard Carranza, who worked for 18 months as Houston's superintendent and previously spent four years as the head of San Francisco's schools, will take over for Chancellor Carmen Farina when she retires at the end of March.

Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement beside Carranza, Farina and First Lady Chirlane McCrayon Monday afternoon.

“Richard Carranza understands the power of public education to change lives, and he has a proven record of strengthening public schools and lifting up students and families,” the mayor said. 

Carranza said he was honored. "I... sit before you here, with no greater opportunity than the largest school system in America in the greatest city in America, the most diverse city in America, New York City," he said.

McCray and Farina also sang Carranza's praises, touting his record of decreasing the achievement gap in San Francisco schools, bolstering social and emotional supports at low-performing schools and helping Houston schools reopen in the weeks following the devastating Hurricane Harvey last summer. 

"Richard understands that schools are so much more than the places our children go to learn—they are the heart of our communities," said McCray.

Carranza is bilingual in Spanish and English. He's the grandson of Mexican immigrants and the son of a sheet metal worker and a hair dresser, he said. He's also a mariachi singer.

The appointment comes on the heels of a debacle last week, where the first person de Blasio picked for the Chancellor's job, Miami-Dade schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho, backed out at the last minute. Carvalho snubbed the offer during a televised board meeting in which students and teachers begged him to stay.

Carranza will earn $345,000 a year, according to the mayor's office, the same as his base salary in Houston. Farina earned $234,560, though she collected another $215,000 a year from her city pension for a total of $449,560, the Department of Education confirmed.