Liberty Media chairman John Malone has announced a $7 million donation to the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) Public Schools to expand its network of charter schools, the Denver Post reports.

Having already received approval for the expansion from Denver Public Schools, DSST plans to establish five new schools by 2013, significantly expanding on the fifteen hundred students it currently serves. Combined with $3 million to be raised by DSST, Malone's contribution will cover the approximately $1.5 million in startup costs for each school, with additional funding to be raised as grades are added and facilities upgraded.

Malone is a frequent contributor to education-related causes, having recently made gifts of $50 million to Yale University and $30 million to John Hopkins University. He also has funded scholarship endowments at two private schools in the Denver area, but told the Post he hoped the gift to DSST — his first to a public school in the state — would have a wider impact. The first DSST high school was established in 2004 and has since graduated four classes of students with a 100 percent placement rate at four-year colleges.

"I was just amazed after having visited the school," Malone told the Post. "It seemed to me it was offering inner-city kids a high-quality education and opportunity they might not otherwise get. I think it's going to help a lot of kids to have that educational opportunity. It's also going to create role models in the community, of people that can succeed and achieve. Hopefully, it also works as an inspiration for other public schools."