In front of a sparse crowd at Cupertino's Quinlan Community Center, the two candidates for seats on the Fremont Union High School District Board answered a series of questions from a panel of newspaper reporters and a Lynbrook High School student.

The third candidate, Michael Flores, did not show up.

The event was sponsored by Vision New America—an organization that encourages civic participation by Asians—and the Silicon Valley chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans.

One of the key talking points of the night was the parcel tax. The district is promoting the tax as a way to stop budget problems from ending classes and services.

"I know that Homer and I have probably worked 10 times as hard on the parcel tax as we have on our own campaigns, because we feel it's that important," Newton said, with Tong nodding in agreement.

Tong made reference to his 27 years of teaching at De Anza College several times, relating the struggles community colleges face to the hardships local high schools are going through right now.

Newton said the entire board was hoping for the passage of the parcel tax—measures L and O in Cupertino and L and P in Sunnyvale—to prevent further cuts. Newton said that with the tight budget the district already has—and with further tightening projected—it's up to the voters in the area to step in and make a difference.

"It's time that we went to the community and showed them the problems and let them decide what kind of schools they're going to have in the future," Newton said.

Because the event was sponsored by two groups that represent the Asian communities in the area, many of the questions dealt with the needs of the Asian population that the district serves, especially in relation to language and cultural barriers faced by recent immigrants and their parents.

"I think parents need to feel there's a place for them to participate, and a safety in it, and I think that language is a big part of that," Newton said.

And while both candidates said they thought the district was making attempts to solve some of the problems, they both said they want another term in office to continue working on issues.

"I think certainly we can do more, and the fact that it's being brought up [in the forum] means there's still room for improvement," Tong said.

Throughout the forum, both seemed more concerned with helping the school district than in promoting their own re-election, and both acknowledged that without action in this next election—including the passing of the parcel tax—the school districts have even harder times ahead of them.

"For myself, education is my life, and I just can't stand seeing an erosion of the quality in our school district, which is why the board put out the parcel tax," Tong said. "It isn't even the fat that's being cut; now we're down to the bone, all the meat is in question."