SQL server questions

We are considering purchasing SQL Server to run an SQL version of a program over a long distance. We need this program to be available on our campus and to people in our town and in the town 40 miles away. This program will be accesses in each town in the high schools and so they will not be members of our domain or our network. Unfortunatly, the program is not Internet ready. Has anyone done this before? What types of problems do we need to look out for? What is the easiest way to setup this type of situation?