PHOENIX (AP) -- Possibly hundreds of children may not be receiving an education in a northern Arizona community long dominated by a polygamist sect, officials said Thursday.

The assessment concerns some children of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that long ago broke away from the Mormon church, which renounces polygamy.

In remarks submitted to a U.S. Senate panel in Washington, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said hundreds of children in Colorado City could be going without schooling. Goddard also discussed his comments during a telephone interview.

Goddard said children are frequently seen playing outside during school hours and school-age boys as young as 12 reportedly are working at construction sites.

But Mohave County School Superintendent Mike File said the number of children not in school could be lower because some FLDS members have left Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah, with many moving to a new enclave in Texas.

Arizona law requires children to be enrolled in a public or private school through age 16 if not home-schooled. Failure by a parent to enroll a child in school is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. Failure by a parent to file a home-school affidavit is a petty offense punishable by a fine up to $300.

The FLDS' jailed leader, Warren Jeffs, previously had members withdraw children from public schools and instead either home school them or enroll them in the sect's private schools. But the private schools have since closed, and Goddard said only 12 parents have filed home-school affidavits.

Besides the educational consequences and lost opportunities for the children involved, it's important to have children in school so school personnel can report any signs of abuse or neglect, Goddard said. "A lot of time it's the school nurse that is the first line of defense," he said.

The Colorado City Unified School District's enrollment plunged from approximately 1,100 to 300 after Jeffs ordered the pullout in 2000 but has gradually climbed back to approximately 450, officials said.

"In my opinion, it's the zealot, die-hard Jeffs followers who are listening to that decree still and educating at home without filing the proper paperwork," File said. "But the school district itself has done a good job of getting (students) back."

Goddard said he is working with other officials and advocates to enforce truancy laws and persuade parents to enroll their children in school.

Rodney Parker, a Utah attorney who acts as a spokesman for the FLDS church, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

However, Parker, whose law office was closed Thursday in observance of a Utah state holiday, said in a letter sent previously to the congressional committee that the hearing perpetuated a history of persecution against a religious minority.

Goddard said he started making inquiries with education officials about the situation late in the last school year so action could be taken this summer before another school year is lost. "Time's a wasting," he said.

If it turns out there are truancy violations, the county sheriff and local police - "if we can have confidence in them" - would enforce the law, Goddard said.

Acting under a 2005 state law enacted because of the Colorado City district's financial troubles, the state Board of Education took control of the district and appointed a receiver to oversee its affairs.

State officials have said the district had been burdened by high costs from FLDS featherbedding and then suffered when the pullout cut into enrollment-based funding from the state.

But the district now could be on the verge of emerging from receivership.

The receiver has told the board's staff that the district is now in compliance with state financial requirements, and the Auditor General's Office plans to conduct a compliance review in August. That could set the stage for the board to end the receivership.

"We're working very hard at it. It's been an uphill battle," said Timpson. "Financially we're looking much better."

"From everything I've heard, they've done a fine job," Goddard of the district's new administration. "They have focused on education and not being an employment center for the FLDS."

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On the Net:

Senate Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.senate.gov/

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: http://www.fldstruth.org/

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