FORMER Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie is among a group of musicians set to join a rally over school budget cuts in the new year.
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News of the rally that will take place on the Parliament lawns follows a protest at one of the state's most publicised events, Taste of Tasmania, in Hobart yesterday.
The group, made up of parents and families from up to 15 schools, protested over cuts to the education system that they say will result in 266 less teachers in state schools and impact a wide variety of programs in 2015.
At the Parliament lawns protest to be attended by Ritchie, there will also be a "classroom" for 30 set up on March 3 - the first day of sitting for 2015.
Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations president Jenny Eddington said the rally was expected to be a big event, highlighting the impact of the cuts on schools, including that to music programs which Ritchie has publicly spoken out in support of.
She said as schools would have returned from holidays by this time, the full impact of the loss of teachers and programs would be felt.
Taste protest organiser Teresa O'Leary said they received a lot of support from the thousands of locals, interstate and international travellers - with many exclaiming their shock at the state's appalling adult literacy rate, which sits at 49 per cent.
"People were just appalled when they read that - some couldn't believe it, walked away and Googled it and came back and signed a post card," Ms O'Leary said.
"It's just a no-brainer, that you need to support children and literacy programs in primary school, not cut them or the problem just continues."
Ms O'Leary said they collected more than 300 signatures on postcards to give to Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff.
In a statement from Mr Rockliff, he said the protesters should also protest outside of the Australian Education Union's head office and demand to know why the union rejected the government's 18-month pay freeze.
He said that would have avoided the need for the cuts.
Opposition Education spokeswoman Michelle O'Byrne said the protest highlighted another broken promise by the state government, in cutting frontline workers.
