Department of Education A-plus employees on the two lowest rungs of the pay scale will receive raises of as much as one-third in their daily rate beginning in January.

In planning raises, the department hopes to be able to compete with salaries at fast-food establishments, which officials said are higher than those paid some workers in the A-plus after-school program.

The department said it is so difficult to find people to hire that the programs are now turning to high school students.

The increases will raise the pay of group leaders from $45.60 a day by an average of $8.84 a day, or $2.33 an hour for a $12 hourly rate.

The increases for aides will raise those salaries of $24.60 a day by an average of $8.84 and the current $6.47 an hour by about $2.33 an hour.

The raises apply only to DOE employees who staff about half of the schools' A-plus programs.

The increased wages will cost about $1 million a year.

The department now receives payments directly from parents — rather than having it go into the state coffers. This means it will be able to absorb the cost of the increases and not pass them along to parents.