School boards group backs out of teacher exchange program amid ex-North Dakota lawmaker’s charges

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota school boards organization has returned over $140,000 to the state and ended its role in a teacher exchange program months after an indictment was unsealed against a former state lawmaker, who traveled to Europe on the state funds and later was accused of traveling to Prague with the intent of paying for sex with a minor.

The North Dakota School Boards Association’s director said the group had been discussing ending its involvement with the Germany-based Global Bridges program before former Republican state senator Ray Holmberg’s indictment, and though his case was not the driver, “everything that transpired perhaps just hastened that discussion.”

“We just were working to align our association’s activities with our mission, and the timing was just what it was,” Executive Director Alexis Baxley told The Associated Press.

The state Ethics Commission announced the funds’ return on Tuesday. In January, the association’s board of directors voted to end its role as the fiscal agent for the program and to return the remaining $142,000 to the state Department of Public Instruction, according to a letter the department provided to the AP.

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