Mask-wearing inside schools may soon be optional.

The statewide mask mandate for classrooms expires next month.

While most students are looking forward to the chance for a return to normalcy, Gov. Kathy Hochul is still calling the mask mandate in schools the common sense and right thing to do.

"I find it phenomenally disappointing that people are willing to pay politics with children's lives," Hochul said during Friday's COVID-19 briefing. "And you heard what I said, schools were the safer place for children - not when they went home. They got sick when they went home during the holidays. Schools are safe, and why are they safe? People have been wearing masks, kids have been wearing masks, and they're adapting to it. It's not something we're going to keep much longer, we know we don't have to - but this has kept children safe in a learning environment. And I fully expect school boards and other leaders to recognize how important this has been, and why our children are safe - we're seeing fewer hospitalized, fewer sicker because they've been able to be in an environment like a school where they have been enforcing this."

Hochul won't say if the mask mandate will be renewed until the end of January.