I haven't read any detailed articles yet, so this is just idle speculation.
If I were to design a computer for school use alone, and I'm using an LCD screen, the
first thing I'd do is make sure that the screen can't be damaged by poking fingers. The iMac I have at home can be touched without distorting anything, but anything more than a light touch produces funky color distortion. I know this is normal for LCDs -- and I don't spend my time pressing on the screen to see the nifty colors.
But I imagine that small fingers may be inclined to do so, and I doubt that it does the monitor any good. A nice protective layer of heavy glass may do the trick.
I also would not include a modem across the board. As has been previously noted, few schools use modem connections, and would therefore be a waste for most schools. Considering the numbers of sales, installing useless modems would be a huge expense. Not that all modems are useless for school use, but I'd at least have the option of modem/no modem available.
Finally, I think I'd probably stick with CD-Roms, not CD-RWs. Maybe set up the students with some server space so they can save easily. Of course, this is assuming that the computers are going into lower grade levels. It wasn't until I attended college that I started having projects and assignments that were too large for floppies. So I don't really see the need for CD-RWs until higher grade levels. Maybe it's just me, I'm not entirely convinced of the matter either way.
Anyway, that's my 1.5 cents. It would be two cents but I'm not totally informed on the subject...