LOS ANGELES — Indoor masking will no longer be mandatory at California schools and child care facilities after March 11, a long-debated and much-anticipated move that comes as the state continues its steady emergence from the omicron wave of COVID-19.

Though Monday’s announcement is just the latest move to loosen California’s formerly strict face-covering policies, it may wind up being the most significant in the near term — it could allow potentially millions of K-12 schoolchildren to go maskless in the classroom for the first time in months. And, in another major move, California officials said masks will be strongly recommended, but no longer required, for unvaccinated individuals in most indoor settings starting Tuesday.

How much of an impact the state’s action will make remains to be seen. Local officials retain the option of keeping mask rules in place if they think doing so is warranted, and more than 1,000 school districts face making their own decisions on when to take that step — contingent on county health orders and labor agreements.

Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school system, appears bound by an agreement with its teachers union to require masking at least through the end of the current school year. But district officials could, if they wish, bring the matter back to the bargaining table.

Whether to send kids to school without masks is as much a matter of personal beliefs as it is policy. While heated online discourse and in-person protests at campuses and school board meetings have perhaps painted the picture that California parents are universally ready to move away from mandatory masking, the reality is less clear, according to the findings of an early February poll conducted by the University of California, Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.

In that poll of nearly 9,000 California voters, almost two-thirds, including a majority of parents, were supportive of mask mandates in K-12 schools.

Nevertheless, the decision to move from required to recommended masking underscores the progress California has made in turning the tide of the latest COVID-19 wave — and illustrates a wider evolution in the state’s thinking as the pandemic shifts from a constant emergency to a less-disruptive burden that can be more realistically managed.

“California continues to adjust our policies based on the latest data and science, applying what we’ve learned over the past two years to guide our response to the pandemic,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Monday. “Masks are an effective tool to minimize spread of the virus and future variants, especially when transmission rates are high. We cannot predict the future of the virus, but we are better prepared for it and will continue to take measures rooted in science to keep California moving forward.”