Two and a half years after taking her seat on the largely liberal Broward County School Board, conservative lawyer Brenda Fam has resigned, effective May 1.

She cited “personal attacks” and “unprofessional behavior” by her Board colleagues, as well as a district that is perpetually struggling to make ends meet.

In a Tuesday letter to Broward Schools Superintendent Howard Hepburn, Fam said she entered office “full of optimism” and focused on balancing the district’s budget and supporting parents’ rights.

But like Alec Bogdanoff, the former Chair of the Superintendent’s Oversight Committee Task Force, who stepped down after three meetings, Fam said she’s been the victim of “an apparent coordinated effort to discredit and undermine anyone for simply asking hard questions and offering a fresh perspective.”

She described the School Board as having a “toxic environment” where members dismiss parents’ ideas and “forward-thinking perspectives.” The Broward County School District, she added, “always appears to be in financial crisis” after shedding an “unprecedented number of students” over the past decade before resorting to tax hike proposals and selling district property to make ends meet.

“I cannot, with good conscience, serve a school district that lacks full transparency, that does not live up to the highest moral and educational standards for students, parents and educators, nor live up to their fiscal responsibilities,” she said.

“It is time for me to move forward to where my contribution is welcomed, and my background and knowledge can bring about an effective and positive change.”

Fam won her District 6 seat — which represents Cooper City, Davie, Weston, Plantation and Sunrise — by 4 percentage points in November 2022 on a wave of conservative backlash to so-called “woke” Board votes to keep mask mandates during COVID and support transgender athletes.

She had previously represented parents who were upset with the content in Broward schools. During a Senate committee meeting on since-passed legislation to ease book bans, she claimed that a charter school student in the district returned home from school traumatized and believing he’d have to marry another man after watching a video about same-sex marriage laws.

After taking office, she continued the fight with fellow conservative School Board members Torey Alston and Daniel Foganholi, both of whom were Gov. Ron DeSantis appointees and lost their seats in August. The trio acted as a bloc against their Democratic colleagues on proposals concerning charter schools, taxes, school vouchers, and teacher raises.

She spoke at an anti-LGBTQ rally in late 2022 called “Protect the Children,” whose attendees included members of the self-described Western chauvinist Proud Boys group, warning attendees of so-called “groomers.” Research has shown for decades that LGBTQ people are far less likely to abuse kids than their heterosexual counterparts.

At a School Board meeting in July, Fam repeatedly called a transgender student — whose participation in her high school volleyball team violated the state’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act — a boy, prompting the child’s parents to storm out. Fam also called for criminal charges to be levied against the student’s mother, an employee of the school who had allowed her child to play on the team, despite state law provisions only carrying civil penalties against the school itself.

She frequently clashed with other School Board members over her views. During a March 2023 meeting, Chair Debbi Hixon suggested that Fam acted counter to the school district’s interest by advocating for vouchers that “divert funds away” from the district, allowing students to attend charter and private schools instead.

Fam highlighted the exchange in a letter, writing: “It is very satisfying, and I take great solace in knowing that I helped save students that were being bullied and students that were suicidal to transfer to their preferred school via school choice vouchers and the Hope Scholarship.”

Florida’s school voucher program diverts billions in state funds from public school districts to private and charter schools. Fam said in her letter that she fears for the future of the Broward County School District (BCSD) as students and funds flee it. The district, she said, is now resorting to hiking taxes and imposing impact fees on residents.

“My greatest fear is that BCSD will seek a bailout from residents in 2026 in the form of referendum funds from Broward County residents due to the Boards (sic) failure to implement a balanced budget and engaging in wasteful spending,” she said. “I have old school values and was taught that you don’t buy what you can’t pay for. … Most importantly, BCSD should not be continually looking to residents to supplement their budget and to fill financial voids while other surrounding counties are functioning with balanced operational budgets.”

After Fam again visited Tallahassee in March, this time on the school district’s dime, to advocate for legislation that would further ease school book challenges, School Board member Allen Zeman publicly floated filing an ethics complaint against her.

Zeman told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, which previously reported Fam’s resignation, that he’d never seen Fam treated unprofessionally.

The Sun-Sentinel also reported that Fam’s Davie house has been up for sale since December.

Fam’s resignation from the District 6 seat — which represents Cooper City, Davie, Weston, Plantation and Sunrise — opens an opportunity for DeSantis to choose her replacement.

That should keep the seat in conservative hands at least until the 2026 election.

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