However, schools could receive about $85.7 million more than previously expected, after a new state revenue estimate yesterday, according to the House Fiscal Agency.

That leaves unanswered questions of how much actually will be spent on schools, as legislators amend differences in the House- and Senate-passed versions of the education budget, which are anything but final.

The only thing set in stone when it comes to schools is Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposal, which calls for a 2 percent increase.

Critics like lobbyist Dave Stafford with the Michigan Education Association, call that increase “minuscule” in lieu of slashes that left a state school aid budget of $750 million less than it would have been if the decrease hadn’t happened.

But others point to increases in school aid every year.

“Certainly there were cuts made,” said Kurt Weiss with the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget. “But funding has been restored and is being restored.”

One of the first things Snyder did once he took office was eliminate the Michigan Business tax. In its place, the Corporate Income Tax was implemented in 2011.

During the last full year of the business tax, the state took in $2.08 billion according to the Michigan Department of Treasury. A comparatively diminutive $920 million was raked in on the first year of its replacement tax, this year.

In the same year that the business tax was eliminated, education funding took the $1.1 billion slash.

But with more money to work with, there could be more invested in education. The next big step for legislators is what’s called a conference committee, where the House and Senate versions of the budget are reconciled.

Erik Jonasson, an analyst with the House Fiscal Agency said that’s scheduled to happen in the next couple of weeks.