The meeting was organised to inform people about both sides of the funding cut debate and featured speeches by Labour education spokeswoman Maryan Street and Mr Woodhouse.
Next year, funding for night classes in high schools will drop from $16 million to $3 million.
The cuts mean the future of the classes is uncertain - Logan Park High School was the only Dunedin high school to express interest in applying for the remaining funding to continue running ACE programmes.
Ms Street last night shared stories of night-class success and emphasised the importance to society of the classes.
"This is something which is based on ignorance and is extremely short-sighted. We can't afford to lose these classes."
Mr Woodhouse said the Government needed to "re-prioritise" and put more money into numeracy and literacy education.
Throughout his speech, it was clear the crowd did not support him.
Many heads shook and people interjected with challenges about appropriate funding.
Mr Woodhouse stated he was not trying to change the views of those at the meeting but had attended in order to relay their thoughts to the Government.
The issue of paying for teacher redundancies was raised in Parliament this week when Ms Street questioned Education Minister Anne Tolley about whose responsibility it was to pay redundancy when the programmes ended.
Ms Street said schools could breach contracts by using education money for redundancy payouts.
She said there were specific requirements about what Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) funding for ACE could be used for, and they did not include redundancies.
Ms Tolley said schools should seek legal and employment advice from the TEC and the New Zealand School Trustees Association.
"I am advised that the responsibility to pay redundancy to night class staff with employment agreements lies with the employers," she said.
"The decision on whether to employ staff or contract for services is one for schools to make."
During last night's meeting, a petition was circulated, to be presented to Parliament at the end of the month.
Those present at the meeting made it clear the funding cuts are still a contentious issue and they would continue to fight for the classes.