5* ¶ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6* But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7* But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8* Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

from Matthew 6

I appreciate your sentiment James, and I know what you mean about supporting do good thoughts, and I'd bet a valid case could be made that pervasiveness of prayer in school would influence non believers to some degree or another, via community/peer pressure. But this isn't/shouldn't be a Federal issue. Constitutionally it's a State's rights' issue and I firmly believe it should be decided locally based on community standards as the Constitution would seem to support(at least once upon a time).

Clearly the scripture above does not support rote prayer, in any form. Further, what if a given teacher didn't believe-would that make the prayer of none effect?

I'm a curious boy; always got me into trouble too.