Teaching board revokes license for Holmberg after guilty plea to sex charge

Former state Sen. Ray Holmberg arrives at the Quentin N. Burdick U.S. courthouse in Fargo for a plea hearing in North Dakota U.S. District Court on Aug. 8, 2024. (Dan Koeck/For the North Dakota Monitor)

The North Dakota Education Standards and Practices Board voted unanimously Friday to permanently revoke the teaching license of a former state senator who pleaded guilty earlier this month to a child sex tourism charge.

Holmberg, a Republican, represented Grand Forks in the Senate for more than four decades. At the time of his resignation in 2022, he also led the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

He was employed at Grand Forks Public Schools from 1967 until his retirement in 2002. Over the course of his career, he taught middle school geography and history, high school social studies, served as a special education coordinator and worked as a high school counselor, according to a biography provided by the school district.

In October 2023, a federal grand jury charged Holmberg with traveling to Europe with the intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and with receiving and attempting to receive child pornography.

Former North Dakota lawmaker pleads guilty to traveling for sex with children

The board voted to suspend Holmberg’s teaching license in November until the criminal case against him concluded

The board entered into a settlement agreement with Holmberg that stipulated his license would be permanently revoked should he be convicted of any of the charges against him or plead guilty to an amended offense.

Under state law, the Education Standards and Practices Board must revoke the teaching license of anyone convicted of sexual offenses or crimes against children.

Holmberg agreed to plead guilty to the child sex tourism charge in July. As part of the agreement, federal prosecutors dropped the child pornography charge.

A federal judge accepted Holmberg’s guilty plea Aug. 8.

Holmberg admitted during the hearing to traveling to Prague multiple times to pay for sex with minors. At least some of these trips were subsidized by taxpayer money. Holmberg was a repeat participant in Global Bridges, a German cultural exchange program that North Dakota teachers and lawmakers took part in. While the program did not host events in Prague, state records indicate that Holmberg traveled to the Czech Republic while he was in Europe for Global Bridges.

Holmberg told Judge Daniel Hovland that his interest in child sex tourism only began after his retirement. He also said that Prague was the only location in which he engaged in sexual activity.

Holmberg’s attorney, Mark Friese, did not return a request for comment by publication time.

Holmberg has been allowed to return to his Grand Forks home while he awaits sentencing .