The charter school movement in the United States began in Minnesota in 1991 and spread rapidly in nearly every state within the United States in an attempt to provide competition for the traditional public schools. Since the passage of the first charter school laws, and the most recent legislative passage in Alabama, forty-two state legislatures plus the District of Columbia have approved charter school laws and have established charter schools; two states (Maine and Washington) have enabling legislation but have no charter schools (Center for Education Reform, 2015). In 1999-2000, there were 1,524 charter schools in 29 states and the District of Columbia enrolling 339,678 students; by 2011-2012 that number grew to 5,696 in 39 states plus the District of Columbia, with a total enrollment of 2,057,599 students (NCES, 2014). This paper offers an extensive examination of funding and its relationship to student achievement of charter schools compared to traditional public schools within large inner cities in one Midwest state. The paper also provides evidence regarding the central thesis for charter schools as to the efficacy and the reality of the public policy in one selected state.