Exactly how much should it cost to educate a child in Georgia? Members of a new state commission will try to answer that question starting Thursday morning.

The formula that currently dictates school funding was written in 1985, and it hasn’t been substantially updated to account for things like inflation or advances in technology. So this year the legislature created a new commission to bring it up to date.

David Johnson is the incoming president of the state School Board Association and was appointed to the commission by Governor Nathan Deal. He says that one of the commission's tasks will be to ensure that state funding doesn't promote inequity across school districts.

"I would hope we come up with something in a fair method to make it just as beneficial to someone in a metropolitan area as it is in a rural community in south Georgia," Johnson says.

The commission's job is also to look at both where the state should be spending on education and also where it is spending that it shouldn't be.

"You can’t throw money at education and just assume that if you have enough money or more money it’s going to get better," Johnson says. "You’ve got to look at what components are important, how you’re going to fund them and you’ve got to stand behind it once you get it decided."

The commission is expected to meet every few months and deliver recommendations to the Governor by September 2012.