Thorp School District voters approved a $505,710 two-year maintenance and operation levy that will improve the students-to- computer ratio in the town's

only school .

Final unofficial results late Tuesday showed the measure passingwith a 63 percent majority. The vote was 168-96.

Tuesday's levy will cost property owners $3.04 per $1,000 ofassessed value, a 14-cent increase over the levy it will replace.The taxes will be collected in 1999 and 2000.

The 18-room Thorp School already has 23 Apple and IBM-compatiblecomputers. The ultimate goal, school officials say, is to supplyevery classroom with three computers for research and teaching.

Some 200 students attend kindergarten through 12th grade at ThorpSchool. Each room has at least one computer wired to the Internet.

Besides more than $40,000 for upgrading the computer systems, thelevy will provide money for telecommunications classes, musicprograms, the school nurse's salary, field trips and the trafficsafety program, among other things.

In order for the measure to be validated, 167 people need to voteon it. To pass, 60 percent need to vote yes.