FARGO (KFGO) – Records obtained by KFGO News from the North Dakota School Boards Association (NDSBA) show that Ray Holmberg, the former State Senator indicted last week on federal charges of child sex tourism and child pornography, traveled to Europe multiple times as part of a program funded by appropriations from the state legislature. Holmberg is accused of repeatedly traveling to Prague in the Czech Republic between June 2011 and November 2016 for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts with a minor.
At least three of the multiple trips Holmberg traveled on as part of the North Dakota delegation for the Global Bridges educational exchange program included Prague as either the arrival or departure city in his itinerary. One of those trips, in July of 2011, fell within the date range of the federal indictment.
Global Bridges is a nonprofit organization based in Berlin. The exchange program has funded as part of the Department of Public Instruction’s appropriations bill in the North Dakota Legislature for over a decade. Jon Martinson was the director of the program for the NDSBA. He characterized the funding as a ”pass-though grant” to Global Bridges via the NDSBA. The NDSBA told KFGO News that the association is the fiscal agent for the program, without any itinerary or attendee approval authority.
Holmberg traveled on at least 11 international trips sponsored by Global Bridges and funded by state dollars between 2010 and 2019. Five of those took place during the date range of the federal indictment. Some of the trips were with groups of legislators, but Holmberg traveled alone or with Martinson on most of them. According to Martinson, Holmberg was not on the Global Bridges Board of Directors but his presence was requested at a number of the organization’s board meetings. Records show that Martinson requested “Teacher Exchange Program” dollars to fund Holmberg’s trips.
Global Bridges was allocated $150,000 from the state’s general fund in the 2013-2015 biennium, according to records from Legislative Council. The following biennium, Global Bridges received a $100,000 increase, bringing their grant from the state up to $250,000 for 2015-2017. In 2017-2019, the grant decreased to $200,000. There were no allocations for Global Bridges in either the 2019-2021 or 2021-2023 biennium.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler expressed “anger and frustration” that her department was caught up in the Holmberg controversy by way of the Global Bridges grant. She said she didn’t realize the program took lawmakers on what she believed to be teacher-focused exchanges, and noted that Global Bridges was one of a handful of organizations that did not comply with a new requirement she pressed for which mandated that grantees provide performance reports at the end of their grant period.
