The meeting at 1.30pm in the Dunedin Town Hall, is one of 50 to be held throughout the country in the next two weeks in response to Education Minister Hekia Parata's proposal to give schools their funding in a lump sum.
Meeting co-chairwoman and co-chairwoman of the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Otago council Lee Phillips said the meeting would be during school time partially as a way of telling parents about the proposal which would result in fewer teachers and bigger classes.
''We didn't make the decision lightly, but because it's such an important issue we really wanted people to realise it.
''We want the parents and the wider community to be informed about it.''
Mrs Phillips said Otago schools were particularly vulnerable to a teacher shortage that a global budget scheme would cause.
At present, the Ministry of Education provides more funding for teachers when a school's roll grows, but Mrs Phillips feared the proposal would reduce teachers, and consequently subject offerings.
''The smaller the school the less flexibility you will have.
''If you are a small secondary school and you only have six to eight pupils who want to do physics for example, there is a good chance those specialist subjects won't be offered.''
Support staff, who did teach children, but were still integral to educational institutions, were likely the first to be reduced if the proposal was implemented, she said.
''We are getting reports of support staff [numbers] having to be scaled back in early childhood centres in Dunedin and Otago.
''They are simply unable to pay for the number of support staff they want.''
NZEI communications team member Melissa Schwalger said of the 1600 expected to attend today's meeting, 60% were from the primary sector, 30% from the secondary sector, and 10% from early childhood.
The breakdown of teaching and support staff was not known but she expected the majority of people attending would be teachers.
At the meeting, teaching staff would vote on what action to take in opposition to the proposal, and discuss the Government's ''refusal to increase funding'' in the education sector.
