Masks will not be mandatory in New Jersey’s schools in the upcoming academic year.

Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday that the change depends on there not being any “dramatic” deterioration in coronavirus trends during the summer.

But guidance from the state Department of Education states that school districts can make their own decision to require masking on their own.

“This is our best sense of what back to school looks like. It's far more than an educated guess,” Murphy said. “But, you know, it's still over two months until school opens. We reserve the right depending on what the virus does or what the CDC does to revisit some of this.”

Students will be required to wear masks on school buses, in accordance to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about wearing masks on mass transit.

Students were required by state guidance to wear masks in their schools, except in some cases. Murphy faced pressure from some parents who opposed the mandate in recent months and announced school districts had the ability to relax the rules.

The new school year will also mark the return to full-time in-person education. Many schools started the year remotely but then returned to some in-person education.