WARWICK — School officials last night gave parents at Sherman Elementary School an unflinching overview of the grim budget constraints the school district could be facing next, in an effort to explain why they are again considering closing one or more neighborhood elementary schools.

“This is not something we wanted to be embarking on so soon after last year when we closed three schools,” School Committee Chairman Christopher E. Friel told the nearly 50 teachers and parents assembled in the Sherman auditorium. “Unfortunately, with proposed cuts in state aid to education for next year we need to keep all our options open.”

With the specter of losing as much as $4 million in state aid next year, Friel said, the board voted last month to resurrect the special review panel that last year recommended the closing of three schools — a recommendation that the board accepted.

Friel and Schools Supt. Peter Horoschak were at Sherman Elementary as part of a series of visits to the six schools that will be reviewed for possible closing.

Since the three elementary schools that closed last year — Drum Rock, Rhodes and Potowomut — were in other areas of the city, the School Department this time is focusing on the elementary schools that “feed” Warwick Veterans Memorial High School. Besides Sherman, they are John Greene, Lippitt, Oakland Beach, Park and Warwick Neck.

Horoschak said that, like last year, students who need to be relocated would be kept in their home high school district.

He said that a number of factors would be weighed in evaluating the six schools, with each one representing a possible savings of $650,000 to $750,000 if closed. Among other things, Horoschak said, the advisory panel will have to look at the exact savings each school represents and how easily its population can be absorbed by nearby schools.

The goal will be to keep neighborhoods intact and to try to make decisions that will cause the least disruption to the schools that have to absorb new populations, he said.

None of it will be easy, Horoschak said, noting that almost every aspect of each school will have to be examined — including what major repairs are needed, population trends, and the cost to transport students elsewhere.

Friel and Horoschak said many of the forces driving the need to save money are out of the School Department’s control. Governor Carcieri has proposed the cut in state aid to education, and it comes after a couple of years of no increase in state dollars to local schools. Also, the city is limited by a state-imposed tax levy cap even if it wanted to increase the local portion of the school budget.

There is a chance that federal stimulus money, which they said is aimed in part toward public education, will trickle down to Warwick

The advisory board is scheduled to make a recommendation to the School Committee by May. Although its meetings will be public, the sessions will not include question-and-answer periods.

Friel and Horoschak said the school board will hold public hearings after a recommendation is made. Also, Horoschak said provisions will be made for the public to send comments to the advisory panel.

Although the first meeting of the advisory panel has not yet been posted, Horoschak said it will most likely be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19, at Gorton Junior High School.