Thousands of complaints have been sent to Education Minister Anne Tolley about funding cuts to adult community education classes in secondary schools.
The community education sector lost 80% of its funding in Budget cuts announced in May.
Mrs Tolley says she's not surprised at the outcry because many people feel strongly about adult community education.
But she says it's a matter of setting spending priorities when Government funding is tight.
An organisation representing the 200 schools which offer adult community education programmes has organised a petition and a postcard and letter-writing campaign.
Mrs Tolley says she has had some letters of complaint and has received about 2000 postcards.
