SELinux: getenforce says 'Disabled' but config file says 'permissive'

I've got one server which, according to the /etc/selinux/config file, the mode is set to "permissive" but when I run getenforce, it reports the it is disabled. Yes, the server has been restarted, so I would think it should be in permissive mode.

I thought I had seen information about setting SELinux mode during boot. I can't remember if it was something in inittab or grub.conf, but I've checked both of those areas and there is no reference to SELinux in either place. So, at this point, it is unclear why this server showing that it's disabled.

Any ideas?