In Business This Week

SCHOOLS ON THE NET WON'T COME CHEAP

COMPUTER LITERACY IS COSTLY. In a report scheduled for release on Dec. 14 by the U.S. Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure, McKinsey estimates that putting computers in every public classroom from kindergarten through Grade 12--1 per 5 students --would consume 3.9% of the nation's K-12 budget by 2005, up from 1.3% now. But the panel stresses the importance of computer and Internet access for students and says teacher training is a key to using classroom PCs more efficiently.EDITED BY THANE PETERSON