Federal COVID-19 relief funding that schools have relied on since the start of the pandemic is set to expire next year.

In 2020 and 2021, congress passed three COVID relief packages that added up to more than $190 billion for public and private schools across the U.S.

Districts report putting the money toward hiring staff, tech upgrades for online learning, improving airflow in schools, and mental health support.

Knowing the money will run out, some districts are concerned about budget shortfalls.

Former educator Amanda Bratten wants teachers and districts to know about a free online resource that could help them save money. It's called Propello.

"Propello is a K-12 education platform," Bratten said. "It's made for teachers, by teachers. and we bring together high-quality customizable curricula designed for hands-on learning. We allow for teachers to be able to personable that education to help students succeed."

Right now, Propello offers middle school science and language arts. There are plans to grow its elementary school curriculum next, including subjects like math and social studies.

Bratten says they do offer districts pay packages with premium tools, integrations and advanced services, but the priority is offering it for free to teachers.

The hope is districts can retain teachers, and those teachers won't have to spend their own money on resources.

Two sisters from Iowa are being recognized as heroes for their quick thinking after saving two kids who fell through the ice in a pond behind an apartment building.

Fifteen-year-old Jasmine Morris and 17-year-old Jacora Morris were scrolling through TikTok when they happened to look out their third-story window at the right time.

Watch the full story in the video player above.

"I immediately screamed, 'They're drowning! They're drowning!' And then me and my sister, we ran downstairs. The dog chased us. We were falling down the stairs to get back here," Jasmine said.

"I just stopped what I was doing. I just got up, and I was just running out. I was just in shoes, shorts and a tank top," Jacora said.

The Morris sisters jumped into the icy water to help the kids.

"I am numb, and those kids, they have been in there longer than me, so they have got to be numb. At some point, they were going to just stop moving. And I didn't want them to stop moving, so it was just, come on! Get them out. You can get out later, just get them out is all I was thinking," Jasmine said.

One boy was trapped underneath the ice with only a finger above the surface.

"I grabbed his middle finger and that is how I pulled him up and we got him up there. He was kind of heavy too, honey! I got him though," Jacora said.

The sisters turned into heroes in seconds.

"You could see the relief and the happiness that he was out of the water and both of them were safe," Jasmine said.

The rescue happened so quickly, medics didn't get there until it was over.

"I was amazed. Not many children would drop what they are doing, or adults, and just run out and wade into water up to their shoulders to pull two other kids out," West Des Moines EMS Division Chief Doug Harms said.

Jasmine and Jacora's mom, Jaqueline Morris, said all those years of swimming lessons paid off.

"I am very proud! I don't even have the words to say. Wow, those were my girls," Jaqueline Morris said.

Jasmine and Jacora don't want praise. They are just overjoyed at the outcome.

"I am just happy they're OK," Jasmine said.

So what did the girls learn about themselves through all this?

"That I have quick reaction skills! And when I have a sense to look up and do something, I need to look up," Jasmine said.

The city of West Des Moines plans to recognize the sisters with a lifesaving award at a later date.

Interest rates continue to remain low and that's putting the potential for families to save tens of thousands of dollars by refinancing to a 15-year mortgage.

“You know, if you're building equity faster with a 15-year mortgage, that's just kind of sign, hey you want to stay in that home and own it free and clear as soon as possible,” said Holden Lewis, a mortgage expert at NerdWallet.

Lewis says he doesn't see interest rates rising anytime soon. The Federal Reserve wants to keep people borrowing to stimulate the economy.

The savings can be enormous, because not only are you paying down the home faster, but you get the loan at an even lower interest rate.

Take a $200,000 home. At 3% for 30 years, you pay more than $100,000 in interest. The same home at 2.5% for 15 years will save you about $63,000 in interest.

The trade-off is the higher payment, about $500 more a month. But it could be less if you're currently paying mortgage insurance and you can drop that in a refinance.

“And that $500 a month could go toward retirement savings, savings for a rainy day, you know, your child's day care. So, there's a lot of competing things that you have to balance against each other,” said Lewis.

If higher payments seem too risky, you could always pay extra on your current mortgage, but that takes discipline.

With the housing market so hot right now, Lewis sees that as a positive for people who may have had financial hardships and need to sell.

“When people have forbearance for a long time, it gives them time to fix up their homes and list them and sell them, so they don't have to do it in an emergency. They don't have to do it in a fire sale type situation and that will keep house prices from falling,” said Lewis.

Homes are sitting on the market only about 21 days, selling about two weeks earlier than they were a year ago.

Even before the pandemic, it was a race against time to preserve Native American languages across the country. COVID-19 has accelerated this.

The Cherokee Nation has had more than 30 of its 2,000 fluent speakers pass away during the pandemic. They've made sure Cherokee language speakers received the COVID-19 vaccine first.

Other tribes have been prioritizing native speakers as well.

The Language Conservancy is one group working to revitalize native languages.

“It’s basically taken what might have given us another five years with the language, has now decreased it to maybe just a year or two before the last speakers pass on. And so, it's taken basically really a terrible crisis and created a whole other tragedy on top of it,” said Wil Meya, Executive Director at The Language Conservancy.

Just in the last six to 12 months, at least 30 of the speakers they've worked with personally have passed away. They've taken their efforts virtual, so they can continue in the pandemic.

That includes the teacher training and teaching young people native languages that usually happens in person. It's been happening over Zoom instead.

They say the positive from all this is they've been able to have people from all over the country, even the world, participate.

“Languages are, you know, an essential part of a community's identity and their health, and so we have this expression in the work we do that language is healing and for many young people, the relearning of their language is an effort to come to terms with the trauma of the past and try to move forward in a positive way,” said Meya.

The nonprofit has also pivoted to how it creates native language dictionaries.

Typically, it works in person with elders over two weeks. Now, they're putting laptops with a microphone and a recording setup on some reservations.

“We set up Zoom and we remote desktop into that machine and the linguist or the person who does the transcriber works with the elder just like you and I are talking over Zoom,” said Meya.

Currently, these remote dictionary efforts are happening in Montana with the Crow language, and in southern Colorado with the Ute dialect. They'll be expanding to parts of Canada in the coming months.