When the Department of Education was formed in 1867, its commissioner had a staff of three clerks and a total of $18,600 to spend. From these humble beginnings, the department has grown to more than 4525 employees and annual expenditures of $57 billion in 2003. The department presently administers over 200 separate programs.14 The original purpose of the department was to collect and disseminate statistics and facts and to promote the goals of education throughout the country. Even though it was known as the Department of Education, the commissioner was not a member of the president’s cabinet. In fact, the department was attached to the Department of the Interior in 1868 and given the status and name of a bureau.