One of the Mission Partners of His God News magazine is the West Virginia Baptists for Biblical Values (WVBBV) whose Director was just elected to the Mason County School Board. Bo Burgess, the newest Board Member, founded WVBBV 3 years ago because he saw a need to educate legislators on the conduit from Christianity to legislation.

Now Burgess sees that Mason County students need help and asks: "we have a much better student to teacher ratio than the state and national averages so we must ask ourselves 'how can we help our kids learn better?'"

According to the data::

For the 2024 school year, there are 12 public schools serving 3,890 students in Mason County Schools School District. This district's average testing ranking is 2/10, which is in the bottom 50% of public schools in West Virginia.

Public Schools in Mason County Schools School District have an average math proficiency score of 20% (versus the West Virginia public school average of 28%), and reading proficiency score of 33% (versus the 40% statewide average).

According to Public School Review and NCES (Public School Review)​​ (NCES)​, "the student-teacher ratio in Mason County Schools, West Virginia, is approximately 13:1​. This ratio is slightly better than the West Virginia state average of 14:1, providing a relatively small classroom environment for students in the county and significantly better than the current national average student-teacher ratio for public schools in the United States of approximately 15:1.

According to Bo, "Helping our kids learn better is just like helping legislators learn better. We started WVBBV early in the fall of 2021, meeting with leadership in the House and Senate. We learned early on that you cannot wait until the start of the session to try and get a bill passed. Much progress was made in 2021 and the beginning of the session in 2022. By the way, West Virginia has one of the shortest Legislative sessions in the country, only lasting 60 days. This is another reason you must have all your ducks in a row before the session starts. The RFRA bill in 2022 passed the House of Delegates with no problem but unfortunately did not get enough steam behind it to even come out of committee in the Senate. We were disappointed but not discouraged. The fight in Charleston over Biblical Values was starting to change. We spent less time fighting against bad bills and more time on good ones. Praise the Lord! 

We aim to spread the Gospel and Biblical Values message in Charleston and across the state, and you can help. Please pray for God's power and favor in our ministry. Register to vote and go Vote for Jesus and Biblical Values!

Now WVBBV has an online app that you can sign up @ https://wvbbv.com/ for alerts on legislation and you will get a text and email 

Besides running WVBBV and being a member of the school board, Bo is the Senior Pastor for Jordan Baptist Church Gallipolis Ferry, Mason County and his wife, Ashley, is the 4th grade teacher at Ohio Valley Christian School. 

According to Bo, "I sat in the parking lot until 15 minutes before the filing deadline and finially decided to file for the election. Some people have said that because my wife teaches at a Christian school and my kids go there, that I am against public schools and nothing could be further away from the truth. As I look out across my congregation each Sunday, I know that a vast majority of students will always go to public schools and the parents who choose to send this children to public schools must have their values represented on the school boards to ensure their values are legally taught to their children. When the majority of parents' values are not accurately representated in our schools, then I felt it was time to let the people of Mason County express their opinions at the voting booth."

"In addition to tackling the academic challenges that currently exist in Mason County, let's teach students the truth about the Bible. Yes, the Bible is a Holy Book but it is also a history lesson unto itsself giving students an amazing insight into the minds of the Founders of  the United States."

"During the American Revolution, after a series of boycotts, when America placed an embargo against Britain, our supply of Bibles was cut off. To make matters worse, it was illegal to print the Bible in America, due to a British royal license on the King James Bible. For these reasons, America was running out of Bibles. Into this crisis stepped a hero of American history, a Scottish immigrant who had become a Philadelphia printer, named Robert Aitken. Indeed, Aitken had risen to the heights of an appointed printer for the Journals of Congress (September 1776 to May 1778). Led by the spirit of independence in the culture, Aitken wrote a letter to our Founding Fathers in Congress seeking approval to publish the first King James Bible in America. Our Founders gave their approval for Aitken to publish the first American Bible."

"Here is the exact text from the Journals of Congress, dated September 12, 1782:

"Resolved, That the United States in Congress assembled, highly approve the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken, as subservient to the interest of religion, as well as an instance of the progress of arts in this country, and being satisfied from the above report, of his care and accuracy in the execution of the work, they recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States, and hereby authorize him to publish this recommendation in the manner he shall think proper."

"The Supreme Court says that we can not teach religion in public schools, however the courts have given educators clear guidelines concerning the use of the Bible in school. In Abington School District v. Schempp (1963), the Supreme Court ruled the Bible may be used in academic curriculum, provided the use is not a part of religious worship but rather a part of a secular program of education proving the American Bible is a history lesson we all need to understand."