By THOMAS HARGROVE and GAVIN OFF, Scripps Howard News Service

Texas officials want a refund for millions of tax dollars from schools that allegedly inflated attendance records, part of a national problem of absenteeism at schools operated by for-profit corporations.

Florida taxpayers are spending millions of dollars to educate thousands of high-school students who rarely or never show up for class, part of a growing trend of high absenteeism at schools operated by for-profit corporations.

Taxpayers pay millions of dollars every month to educate tens of thousands of high school students who rarely or never show up for class, part of a growing trend of high absenteeism at privately operated schools.

WASHINGTON -- Members of a polygamist sect have built a network of construction companies in Western states that recently have won millions of dollars in public works contracts by making extremely low bids.