New York state is prohibiting the purchasing or using of facial recognition technology in schools, the state Department of Education announced Wednesday.

Commissioner Betty Rosa said schools can decide whether to use other kinds of biometric identifiying technology that is not facial recognition, like fingerprint identification, as long as privacy, civil rights and parental input is considered.

Rosa said the department used the recommendations of a biometrics report conducted by the Office of Information Technology Services released back in August that outlined serious concerns regarding facial recognition technology and acknowqledged that "the risks of the use of FRT in an educational setting may outweigh the benefits."

Facial recognition technology has been under a moratorium in schools since December 2020 when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation halting its usage and conducting the aformentioned study.